Tales of a Fifth Grade Nobody
by jesuisl0ser
Summary: Sequel to Days in the Life of a Five Year Old. Mark and his friends' last year of elementary school brings new experiences, like crushes, true friendships, and so much more! FINAL CHAPTER IS UP.
1. Back to School

**A/N: HERE IT IS, MY DEARS! The sequel to "Days in the Life of a 5 Year Old", entitled "Tales of a Fifth Grade Nobody". Yeah, the title's depressing (a little play on the title of the Judy Blume book 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'...), but it's for our darling Mark who's trying to find his place in the big fifth-grade world. Enjoy! R&R, please!  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or its characters, nor the book "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing." Jonathan Larson owns RENT, Judy Blume is the author of "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", so that obviously means I do not own it.

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Ten-year-old Mark Cohen took a deep breath and swung his heavy backpack over his shoulders.

_It's the first day and my backpack's already heavy..._

It was true. His mother had packed all of his school supplies needed for fifth grade in his small blue backpack. And it was weighing his small, skinny body down. As he was heading into the oh-so familiar schoolyard that he'd entered each morning for the past five years (well, 180 days of each of those years, that is), he felt himself feeling like he was slowly, slowly sinking down onto the concrete floor.

Little did he know that he actually _was_. Before he knew it, he found himself on his hands and knees, his backpack crushing his back more with every second.

"...Ouch."

"Hey, Mark, what the heck are you doing? Crawling? We ain't in, like, preschool, dude."

Mark looked up at who had made that crude remark and wasn't at all surprise to see his best friend Roger Davis towering over him. Mark stood up and brushed off his pants and hands.

"Hi to you too, Rog," he replied sarcastically.

Roger patted his back playfully, sending Mark almost flying to the ground again. "Hey, _Marky_. Nice to see your smiley, nerdy face again."

Mark adjusted his glasses. "I'm not a nerd. And, Roger, come _on_, don't call me Marky anymore! That's kid's stuff!" he whined.

"Sure, Marky," Roger said absent-mindedly.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Where's everyone else?"

Roger pointed across the schoolyard to where a group of children had gathered in a tight bunch. He ran over to them, Mark sluggishly following behind him, mumbling, "Ow...ow..."every time he took a step.

"Hey, guys, Marky's here!" Maureen cried loudly as she saw the two approaching them. Everyone waved to Mark as he finally stopped in front of them and let his backpack slide off of his shoulders and onto the ground with a loud _thud_.

"Wow," Tom Collins, one of Mark's closest friends, said, "Whatcha got in there, Mark?"

"Everything but the kitchen sink," Mark muttered. Everyone laughed.

Angelo, preferably referred to as Angel, let out a great big sigh. "Can you guys believe it? We're gonna be in middle school next year!"

"Aww, come on, Angie," Mimi Marquez whined, thinking nothing of the fact that she was using a girl's nickname to refer to her friend. Ever since Angel had told them to refer to him as 'Angie' way back in kindergarten, the name had stuck with the group of friends. "Don't even _talk_ about middle school. I can't believe we're in _fifth_ grade!"

Joanne Jefferson pulled her hair back into a ponytail with an elastic and smiled. "Yeah, haha, we get to boss all the little kids around, 'cause we're the kings and queens of elementary school!"

Maureen randomly put an arm around Mark. "I haven't seen you all summer, Marky! Where have you been anyway?"

"Dude," Roger said, "Maureen's right. Tom and I called you like, a billion times. You never picked up."

"And when you did," said Tom, "You always said you 'had to go' or whatever..."

"My mom took us to the beach and stuff..." Mark said quietly. He paused, his eyebrows furrowing. "Roger?"

"Yeah?"

"Since when do you say 'dude'?"

"Since, forever, dude! Geez!"

* * *

Mark knew that as soon as he walked into the classroom that he was scared of his fifth grade teacher. Old and gray-haired, Mrs. Wright was the most hated teacher in the school. She was very strict and hated any class she got. Mark gulped. This wasn't going to be pretty. 

"Sit down, fifth grade," shouted Mrs. Wright. The children shuffled to their seats and sat with their hands folded.

"Now," the teacher began, "As you may or may not know, my name is Mrs. Wright, and I will be your fifth grade teacher this year." She wrote her name on the board. The chalk squeaked on the board and sent chills down Mark's spine. Roger covered his ears with his hands. When Mrs. Wright turned back around to see Roger doing this, she glared at him.

"Is there a problem, Mr...Davis, is it?"

Roger quickly unblocked his ears. "Um...yes, ma'am, it's Roger Davis, and, um...no, ma'am, there isn't no problem..."

"There isn't _any_ problem, Roger. _Any_," Mrs. Wright corrected. Mark, Tom, and the rest of the bohemian friends tried to stifle a fit of laughter as they watched Roger blush.

"I would appreciate it, then, if you did not cover your ears while I am speaking. Do you understand, Mr. Davis? I would like to start off on the right foot here without any disturbances."

"Yes...Y-yes Mrs. Wright."

"All right, then. I would like to go around the room and have you all state your names. We'll start in the back of the room---you, there, with the blonde hair and glasses way in the back."

Mark had been too busy hiding his laughter and nudging Tom's shoulder with a smirk on his face to be paying any attention.

"Excuse me!" Mrs. Wright snapped.

Mark looked up abruptly.

"Is there something funny?"

"No, no...No Mrs. Wright," Mark said.

"Then state your name, please."

"M...Mark...Cohen," Mark choked.

"Thank you. Next..."

Mark had been told by his sister Cindy over the summer that the best way to stay out of trouble is to write down in a notebook what NOT to do in certain situations. It seemed like a decent idea. So he took out a pen and one of his brand new notebooks and wrote:

_NOTE TO SELF: Don't ever get Mrs. W ticked off._

_This wasn't the Back-to-School morning I imagined..._

He put his notebook in his desk and glanced at Tom, who was staring wide-eyed at Mrs. Wright. Tom was always very easygoing, and for him to get freaked out by something or someone, that person or thing would have to be really crazy. And that, Mark concluded, was what Mrs. Wright was. A crazy old witch.

Mimi leaned over to whisper to Mark, "It's gonna be a _lonnnng_ day, Marky."

Mark had a feeling that Mimi was right.


	2. All That Glitters

**A/N: YAY! Glad you guys liked the first chapter. Also, the POVs will vary in this fanfic, unlike my kindergarten story in which it was all Mark's POV. Just letting you know, the next two chapters after this one will involve Angel angst -gasp- R&R please!

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Days flew by, and soon the boho kids were three weeks into fifth grade.

Mimi Marquez stood in the girls' bathroom re-applying some lipstick. She was going to make Roger Davis look at her—not just look at her like he looked at any of his other friends, but to actually notice her in a _different_ kind of way—if it was the last thing she ever did. Maureen and Joanne were standing right behind her.

"Make sure you flip your hair when you walk by him," said Maureen, "That'll get him to notice all the glitter you added in it!"

Joanne put a hand on Mimi's shoulder. "Act casual. If you act over-the-top, he'll notice you, all right, but he'll think you're out of your mind!"

Mimi giggled. "Thanks guys." She looked at her watch. "Almost lunch time. If he doesn't say anything or at least _start_ checking me out by the end of lunch, I give up."

"Meemz, don't give up!" Joanne cried. "Roger's a little _slow_..." She pointed to her head, and Maureen laughed loudly. "It may take him a while to notice."

"Hey, can I borrow that glitter sometime? Maybe Mark would notice me more if I put 'em in my hair. He likes shiny stuff."

Joanne blinked. "You...like Mark?"

Maureen blushed. "Whoops."

"Aww! How cute!" Mimi squealed. "If I get Roger to like me, we can go double dating. You and Mark and me and Roger!"

"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves..." Joanne said, and Maureen laughed.

"As far as the glitter...It's Angie's, not mine. Ask him to borrow 'em," said Mimi.

"I think I will!" replied Maureen. "I mean, if this plan _works_ and all. Like, if _Roger_, who is like, oblivious to the world around him, finally notices the beauty that is Mimi Marquez---"

Mimi giggled.

"—Then I'm definitely using that glitter. Anyway...Ooh! Mimi, Hurry! It's lunchtime! Quick! Hurry! Get him! GO!"

"Will you stop screamin' like a wild maniac?" Joanne cried.

Mimi burst out laughing, and Maureen rolled her eyes at Joanne. "You wish you had my voice, Miss I'm-So-Quiet-That-The-Teacher-Never-Hears-Me!"

"Oh, shut up, Mo."

"Guys!" Mimi interrupted their argument. "Stop fighting! Let's go!"

Both girls stopped quarreling to start squealing as they headed out of the bathroom.

"Good luck! We'll be secretly watching at the table the whole time!" Joanne cried.

"_Please_," Mimi muttered, "Angie already told me that he'd be stalking me to see what happens...now I have you two snooping in on me!"

"We won't stalk you," said Maureen, "We'll just obsessively watch you at lunch and if you're not done impressing him by then we'll walk around wherever you go and snoop in on you."

"Isn't that stalking?" Joanne asked.

Maureen blinked. "Shut up."

Joanne laughed evilly and watched as Mimi walked towards the cafeteria.

"If Roger isn't in total shock at Mimi's new look by the end of lunch, I might have to kick his ass."

"OOH! JOANNE! You swore!"

"Oh, come on, Maureen, let's just go to lunch. I'm starving." Joanne muttered.

"For _food_, or for _snooping_?"

Joanne glared at Maureen.

"Okay! Okay! I'll shut up now! C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

Mimi looked fabulous and she knew it. She walked into the cafeteria and put her lunch box down on the table next to Roger. She slowly sat down, showing off the brand new skirt she bought over the weekend. She flipped her hair to the side, nervously glancing at Roger, who was eating his salami sandwich, completely oblivious of the fact that she was trying to get his attention. She looked over at Maureen, Joanne, and Angel, who were staring at the both of them intently.

_What should I do?_ She mouthed to them. The three friends glanced at each other nervously, then looked back at Mimi and shrugged. She thought for a moment, and then remembered that she was wearing the perfume she'd borrowed from her mother. She glanced over at who was seated two seats away from her. Mark. An easy target.

"Hey, Mark, can I have a chip?" she asked.

Mark nodded. "Sure."

Mimi slowly reached out her arm in front of Roger to grab the chip, hoping that Roger would smell the scent of her perfume. Sure enough, he did, but he hadn't reacted the way she'd hoped he would.

"Dude, what's that smell?"

Mimi had been swallowing the chip when he had said this and almost choked.

"What smell?" asked Tom.

"Smelled like...my grandma's perfume. Yuck. I dunno, it was weird..." Roger went back to eating his salami sandwich.

Mimi looked down at the ground, Mark adjusted his glasses, and Angel, Maureen, and Joanne chattered in hushed whispers. And Tom was beginning to catch on with what was going on.

Mimi flipped her hair back again. It was no use.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," she said quietly, trying to fight back the tears burning in her eyes. She ran out of the cafeteria. Maureen and Joanne followed. Angel was forced to sit and wait, as he obviously wasn't allowed in the girls' bathroom.

"Didn't you get it, Roger?" Tom whispered when they had left.

Roger had his sandwich stuffed in his mouth as he asked, "Get what?"

Angel sighed. "Mimi's got a crush on you, Rog. She got all dressed up for ya. Didn't you see? She had sparkles in her hair, and she was wearing as much makeup as the school allows you to wear. She told me that the outfit she's wearing is brand new, she bought it this weekend. Just for you."

Roger blinked. "Whoa. Dude. Are you serious?"

Mark adjusted his glasses. "You should go talk to her at later, Roger."

"Yeah..." Roger muttered. "I guess I should."

* * *

Being the procrastinator that he was, Roger ended up waiting until the last few minutes of the school day to talk to Mimi. She was getting her backpack and heading out the door for dismissal when he stopped her.

"Hey, Mimi?"

Mimi looked down at the floor. "What?"

"Look, uh...I'm really sorry that I was kind of...ignoring you and I didn't know you were...trying to...um..."

"I wanted you to _notice_ me, Roger," Mimi said, "Not just as one of your friends. As a _girl_...who...likes you. A lot." She hadn't meant for all of that to slip out. She was afraid of what Roger was going to say next.

Roger was stunned. Sure, he had heard from Angel and Tom that Mimi had a crush on him, but to actually hear it from_ her_...

"I...um..." He sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. After a moment of silence, he put a hand on her shoulder. "You look really, really pretty, Mimi."

Mimi looked up at him. "Really? Do...do you mean that? I mean...you're not just feeling sorry for me...I'm sure Angie or someone told you about what I was trying to do..."

"Sure, I mean it. And yeah, Angie kind of filled me in on everything but...That don't matter. You do look really nice, Meemz."

Mimi said nothing. She simply pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, Roger."

Roger stood there awkwardly as she hugged him, but eventually put an arm around her shoulders. When she pulled away he quickly stuffed his hand back in his pocket.

"Oh..." Mimi looked at the classroom clock. "Gotta go."

"I'll walk you outside," Roger said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Mimi smiled. "Okay!"

And then, side by side, Mimi Marquez and Roger Davis walked out of the classroom.


	3. Phone Call

**A/N: Thanks for all your reviews! -drumroll- ANGEL/COLLINS PRE-RELATIONSHIP FLUFF/ANGEL ANGST! WOOT! Enjoy this chapter!

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Tom Collins sat in his room doing his homework. They were a month into school and he was bombarded with homework. Mrs. Wright wasn't very sympathetic. He was finishing up his math homework when the phone rang. He glanced at the clock. It was already almost 8 PM. He sighed, hoping that one of his parents would answer so that he could finish his homework. Sure enough, the phone had stopped ringing and he heard his mother talking downstairs. Just as he finished up his last math problem, he heard her calling up to him:

"Tom, dear, phone for you!"

Tom picked up the phone on his desk.

"Hello?"

A sniffle. "Tom, is that you?"

"...Angie?" Tom asked.

"I'm scared," was the reply. Yes, it was definitely Angel. Another sniffle. Tom realized that Angel was crying on the other line. Tom wondered how Angel could just let himself cry like that, as if it were nothing...Tom always tried to hide his tears.

"Are you crying? What happened? Why're you scared?" A bunch of questions came out of Tom's mouth at once.

"I'm scared," Angel repeated, his voice quavering.

"Angie, calm down. Why're you scared?" Tom asked again, his voice calm.

"My dad...he won't stop yelling at me...he told me I'm worthless...and stupid...and..." He stopped to let out a little cry.

"Oh, God, Angie, I'm so sorry..." Tom didn't know what else to say.

"Tom," Angel said, "My dad doesn't want anyone calling me Angie."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's a girl's name...Tom, what's _wrong_ with me?"

Tom was silent.

"Tom? Are you still there?" Angel sounded frantic and the sound of his voice caused a big lump to form in Tom's throat.

"Yeah, I'm still here, Angie."

"Don't call me---"

"I'm calling you that, and I don't care. All of us have called you Angie for the past five years...the beginning of the sixth, actually, countin' kindergarten...since when does your dad care now?"

He sniffed again. "I don't know...but I'm scared, Tom. I'm afraid he'll hurt me or something...He doesn't love me anymore...he used to, but now he doesn't. He loves my brother. My brother plays football and likes sports and watches games on TV with my dad."

"But why doesn't he like _you_ anymore, Angie?" Tom honestly didn't understand.

"Don't you get it?" Angel said, his voice in almost a whisper, "Sometimes, I act a lot like...like...a girl. Remember when I used to wear nail polish? And I sometimes put makeup on when I'm home alone...and when I do, I _feel_ like a girl. Why can't I be _normal_ like everyone else? Like you, or Mark, or Roger?"

Tom knew that he was right. Angelo Schunard had always been a little..._different_ from the rest of the boys at school. But that had never mattered to Tom or any of the rest of the boho kids. Of course, Roger would occasionally ask questions, but Angel would simply answer them and go back to whatever it was he had been doing. But now, after all these years, Angel had finally broken down from all the pressure.

"Angie---" He began.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT ANYMORE!" Angel cried. Tom could tell that Angel had started to cry again.

"Angie—I mean...what should I call you now? Angel? Or..."

"Yeah," he sniffed. "Angel. I like that better than Angelo."

"Then 'Angel' it is. You can stay on the phone with me until you feel better, 'kay?"

"Okay..."

They talked quietly for a little bit until suddenly, Tom heard a loud noise on the other line, like a door opening.

"Angel? You okay?" he asked. He heard voices in the background.

"_Angelo, put the damn phone down!"_

"_Dad, leave me alone!"_

"_I said put the damn phone down!"_

"_No!"_

"_Don't you dare..."_

There was some shuffling, and he could hear Angel shouting, "Give me the phone! Give it _back_! Tom's still on the other line! Give it---"

_Click_. Dead silence. Tom gulped, slowly hanging up the phone. He began to put his schoolbooks and notebooks in his backpack, and blinked back the tears forming in his eyes. Why he was crying, he wasn't exactly sure. Thomas B. Collins couldn't even remember the last time he'd cried until now. He hated to cry. He always thought of it as a sign of weakness.

But now the tears were falling down onto his notebook page. He roughly wiped them away with the back of his hand.

_Crap..._

Tom was sure of the reason he was crying then.. He was crying for Angel.

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**A/N (contd.): Was it stupid? Did you guys like it? Or HATE it? R&R please!**


	4. Losing Control

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! Enjoy this chapter! R&R please! A lot of Angel angst in this chapter again (and a little RENT song reference thrown in at the beginning...tehehe)...and a little bit of Roger/Mimi fluff for ya :) But don't worry! Next chapter there will be more of our favorite boho kid couples. R&R please!

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_MARK'S POV:_

Mark Cohen watched as Roger Davis turned around in his seat. The fifth grade classroom was set up in rows, and since the children had been allowed to pick their seats on the first day of school, Roger had made sure he'd gotten a seat close to his friends. That was because, first of all, they _were_ his friends, and second of all, if he ever needed answers to any questions as far as schoolwork, all he had to do was turn around and ask his friends for help. Now, the students were doing math problems, and he was stumped...Well, he wasn't _really_ stumped. He just didn't feel like doing the math.

"Dude, what's 21,900 times 24?" Roger whispered to Tom.

Tom sighed and rolled his eyes. He thought for a moment, and then responded:"Five-hundred twenty-five thousand six-hundred."

Mimi and Mark, who were sitting on the right side of Tom, stared at him, wide eyed. Roger's mouth dropped open.

"Oh, my God...How did you figure that out so quick?" Mimi whispered.

"I dunno." Tom shrugged. Mark adjusted his glasses and looked down at Tom's paper. He was already finished with all of the math problems. Mark had always wished that he could be as smart as Tom.

"Thanks, Tom. You're, like, a human calculator..." Roger turned back to his desk and wrote down the answer. Luckily, Mrs. Wright hadn't noticed the boho kids having their little conversation. Mark found himself grinning like an idiot the whole time. He'd missed his friends a whole lot during the summer, he realized, and it was great to be back.

* * *

By lunchtime, Mark had observed that the only person in his little group of friends who hadn't talked at all was Angel. He had been very quiet, which was unusual of him. Then, when they had gone to the cafeteria for lunch, Mark watched as Angel took a seat a little farther away from the group at the table. That was when Mark knew there was definitely something wrong. He walked over and plopped his paper bag lunch on the table next to Angel. 

"Hey, Angie, what's up? You look ticked off or something..." he asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Angel stared down at his peanut-butter sandwich.

Maureen nosily joined in on the conversation. "Hey, what's wrong, Angie? You haven't talked all day!"

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Mimi chimed in.

"Leave him alone," Tom muttered. Everyone shifted their glances towards him.

"Dude, what's _your_ problem?" asked Roger, "You haven't talked a lot either."

"I'm just sayin', leave Angel alone..."

Joanne blinked. "Since when do you call him Angel?"

"Since he wants me to. Since he wants _us_ to. So call him Angel."

"Why?"

"'Cause he just _wants _us to. Ask him if you don't believe me."

The five friends were quite confused as to what was going on with Tom and Angel, but concluded on the fact that they both wanted to be left alone. So that was what they did. They resumed with their usual chatter.

"Hey, did you guys see that new cartoon last night? It was on at eight. It was really dumb," said Mark.

"Which cartoon?" asked Joanne.

"The one about those talking animals."

"Dude, that was so _gay_!" Roger cried. "It took me, like, the whole hour to realize that the cat was a guy. I thought it was a girl. It was all talking in a high-pitched voice or whatever. It was acting like a girl. Really gay."

"You know, I didn't even know what that word meant until this year," said Maureen. "No one ever tells me anything."

"I'm sure they tell you a lot of things, you just don't pay attention," Joanne muttered. Roger burst out laughing.

"Dude, you're, like, stupid. I've known that word forever. Who doesn't know what 'gay' means?"

"I am _not_ stupid, Rog!" Maureen snapped.

"Yeah, you are."

"Well who's the one who couldn't figure out 21,900 times 24?"

Roger looked down at his food.

Mimi laughed and gave Maureen a high-five. "Nice comeback, Mo!"

"Thanks, Meemz."

"Mimi, whose side are you on anyway?" Roger cried.

Mimi smiled at him. "Not telling." She playfully touched his arm, and he quickly pulled away. Mimi couldn't help but smile again as she caught him blushing.

Mark glanced over at Angel, who looked extremely pale. Apparently he hadn't been the only one who noticed.

"Whoa, Angie—I mean, Angel, are you okay? Did the peanut-butter make you sick?" Mimi asked.

Angel slowly looked up at all of them. He looked every one of them right in the eye and stopped at Roger.

"Why don't you make fun of _me_, Roger? Why not?" He asked, through gritted teeth.

"Dude, what're you---"

"My voice isn't as deep as any of the guys sitting at this table. I've worn makeup before. You'd consider that 'girly', wouldn't you? So, aren't you going to make fun of me? Call me gay?"

"Angie—I mean—Angel, I..."

"I've seen some of the kids in our class make fun of me. So why don't _you_, Roger? You had a great time making fun of the cartoon."

"But that's just a cartoon..."

"Do you think I _wanna_ be different? Do you think I _wanna_ be made fun of?" Angel's voice was rising. He was about to say something else when the bell rang, announcing that lunch was over. Angel was the first to get out of his seat, followed by Mimi who ran to catch up with him and put her arm around his shoulders. Roger stared after them both.

"Wow, Rog, you really messed up this time..." Mark muttered.

"Shut the heck up."

"I'm going after Angel and Mimi..." Maureen said. Joanne followed, as did Mark.

Roger shook his head. "I didn't mean to...Don't even know what I did..." With that, he went to catch up with his friends.


	5. Apologies Accepted and Secrets Revealed

**A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews! Since I haven't updated ina little while, here's a BIG chapter for you! Enjoy this chapter, everyone

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_TOM'S POV:_

Mrs. Wright had assigned a group project the day after the incident between Roger and Angel. The children were to read a specific lesson in their Science books that had been assigned to them and then, later, get up in front of the room and show the rest of the class what they learned from the lesson. Since it was their first group project, Mrs. Wright had decided to be a little lenient and let the children pick their groups. The children split up into groups of five.

This was a problem for a certain Mimi Marquez who simply insisted that she and her friends (minus Roger, who had apparently gone to April's group) be in their own group. But since there were six children and only five were allowed per group, Mrs. Wright sternly told Mimi that one of her friends had to go to a group of which there only consisted four children. There were twenty-five fifth grade students and five per group balanced it out

So Tom offered to go to the group of four—that happened to be the same group Roger Davis was in.

It was no surprise to him that a couple of minutes after each of the kids in the group started reading a paragraph of the lesson, Roger leaned over and whispered to him:

"Dude, could you do me a favor and tell Angie—I mean—Angel that I'm really sorry? I didn't know that I'd hurt his feelings and crap...I didn't even _know_ he was listening to me when I was talkin' about that cartoon."

Tom was silent for a moment.

"And, dude, stop with the whole silent treatment 'cause it's ticking me off," Roger snapped.

Tom sighed and stared at April as she quietly read her section of the lesson out loud to the group. He was watching her and pretending like he was listening.

"Why can't you just go tell Angel yourself that you're sorry?" he asked.

"Because you guys are _ignoring_ me, that's why!"

Tom felt his blood boiling. "Why do you always have to open that big mouth of yours? Angel's going through a lot of crap right now. Since the rest of our group knows I might as well tell you...Angel's dad swears at him and yells at him and makes fun of him. Tells him that he's useless. Says that he doesn't want anyone calling him 'Angie' 'cause it's a girl's name. Rog, Angel is being pretty much tormented by his dad; how do you think he feels right now?"

Roger's mouth gaped open. _Tormented_ was a strong word. "Dude..."

"_Dude_. Is that all you say! Listen, Roger." Tom's voice was in a loud whisper now. "You know Angel was always a little different from me, you, and Mark as far as...you know...guy stuff. But we never let it get in the way. But Angel's dad doesn't want him to be different. He's making it seem like it's a bad thing, and that's why Angel is so upset. And you made it worse by talking about a flippin' gay cat."

"I...I didn't..." Roger stuttered.

"Just forget it."

* * *

_ROGER'S POV:_

By lunch time, Roger knew what he had to do. He stomped over to his usual table and threw his lunch box down on the table next to Mimi, who jumped in surprise. After setting his lunch box down, he walked over to Angel, who was at the far corner of the table. He took a deep breath, and then spoke:

"Angel-I'm-really-sorry-about-what-I-said-and-Tom-told-me-what-happened-and-Dude-I'm-sorry-about-what-happened-with-your-dad-are-we-friends-again?"

He said it so fast that when he was finished, Angel blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what he said. Finally, he looked up at Roger.

"It's okay, Rog...I was just really...mad...and stuff..." He trailed off.

"Well you're dad's just being stupid," Roger concluded.

Angel smiled a little. "Yeah...yeah, he is," he said.

Roger smiled back and turned towards the rest of his friends. "Are you guys still mad at me?"

"Do us a favor, Rog," Mark said, "Think before you say stuff."

"Easy, dude!" Roger replied, shrugging his shoulders and sitting down next to Mimi.

"Are you sure about that?" Joanne joked. Mimi giggled.

Roger rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude."

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

Mark was very relieved about the fact that the fight between his friends and Roger was finally over. He never liked it when his friends weren't speaking to each other, though it never happened very often. Now, as he was sitting in class doing his Social Studies work, he felt someone nudge his arm. He turned to face Mimi, who placed a note in his hand.

"Pass it to Maureen," she whispered. Mark passed the note to Tom, who passed it to Angel, who passed it to Joanne, who passed it to Maureen, who opened the note.

Mark had never understood the skill of note-passing. It was a girl thing. How his friends managed to write notes and pass them back and forth without getting caught by the evil that is Mrs. Wright was beyond what Mark could comprehend.

Soon the note had been passed back to him again to give to Mimi, then back to him once more to pass down to Maureen. After the fourth time of this ritual of passing the note back and forth, Mark suddenly became curious of what the note actually said. He had observed that every time Maureen started to read it, she blushed. So, when the note was passed back to him for Mimi, he made sure that Mimi was concentrating on her work before slowly unfolding the paper...what it said completely shocked him.

_So, how are you going 2 tell Mark that you like him?_ That was Mimi's handwriting. He stared, in shock, and slowly shifted his gaze down to the next line, which was Maureen's reply:

_I don't know. He probably doesn't like me back. But I like him a lot, I'm just scared 2 tell him._

Mark gulped.

_You have to tell him, Maureen! I'm sure Marky likes you back. Roger knows that I like him...You just gotta tell him right out._

_Imagine if he read this note! Wouldn't that be easier?_

Mark thought that the last line was extremely and sickeningly ironic. A hand snatched the note away. He looked up. Mimi was glaring at him.

"You _read_ it?" she whispered. Mark gulped and nodded. They both glanced over at Maureen, who was busily writing in her notebook.

"Well if you're gonna be nosy, Marky, you have to do this." She pushed the note onto his desk and handed him a pen.

"Write your answer."

Mark was confused. "What answer?"

"If you like her back or not, dummy! Write it! Quick!"

Mark shakily took the pen in his hand and wrote, in his scrawny handwriting:

I like you too, Maureen.

He folded it up and passed the note down. Mimi and Mark eagerly watched Maureen as she opened the note and read what it said. Her eyes widened and her face flushed once more. She slowly looked over at Mark and smiled the biggest, happiest smile Mark had ever seen. Mark smiled back.

It was going to be a quite interesting October afternoon.


	6. Maureen's Halloween Party

**A/N: I wrote Chapter 6, everything was just dandy, until somehow the file got deleted. So I had to write the chapter ALL OVER AGAIN. I was really mad. Anyway, here it is, enjoy!**

**I DO NOT OWN RENT OR THE SONG "DANCING QUEEN" BY ABBA.

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_THE POV OF NO ONE IN PARTICULAR:_

"OH MY GOD! GUYS! GUESS WHAT!" Maureen squealed. She and her friends were sitting in the cafeteria.

"What? Who died?" Roger asked, his mouth full of food. Mimi burst out laughing.

Maureen rolled her eyes, "No one died, Roger. But I bet you wished someone did."

"Ouch. That was harsh," Mark said, straightening his glasses.

"Anyway, before Roger interrupted me, I was about to say that my mom said that I could have a Halloween party and invite you guys over to my house!"

Joanne's eyes widened with excitement. "Really! That would be so awesome! I'm sick of going trick-or-treating with the little kids."

"Me too," Tom agreed.

"We can watch scary movies...I can move the couch in my living room and turn it into a dance floor...I'd get pizza and snacks and everything! We'll have so much fun!"

"When are you gonna have it?" Roger asked.

"At Christmas, Rog," Tom said sarcastically.

Roger blinked. "Dude, that's so dumb. Why would anyone have a Halloween party at Christmas?"

Tom pretended to hit his head on the lunch table while Angel started laughing.

"Tom was being sarcastic, Roger," he said, still laughing.

"Oh."

"So, you guys won't be busy or anything, right?" Maureen asked frantically.

Angel smiled. "What would we be doing on Halloween night, Mo?"

Mimi sighed dramatically. "Oh my gosh, what will I wear?"

"A costume, maybe?" Roger replied, "Dumb question, Mimi."

Mimi looked slightly hurt by this comment, prompting Roger to quickly say, "Sorry, Meemz."

"You guys don't have to wear costumes," Maureen said, "Whatever...I wanted to dress as a princess, though, but then I changed my mind."

Roger snorted. "Dude, are you serious? A princess, again? That's so baby-ish!"

"Well, in your case, Roger, you don't need a costume. You could go trick-or-treating as yourself and people would be scared of your face!"

"BURRRRN!" Joanne cried. Angel had been drinking his milk when this exchange had taken place, and had ended up having milk come out of his nose.

"Eew, Angel, that's gross!" Mark muttered. The entire group burst out laughing, but then Roger abruptly stopped laughing.

"Guys, do you realize how cheesie that was? We all just burst out laughing. At the same time. Really cheesie."

Mark blinked. "Shut up, Rog."

* * *

_MAUREEN'S POV:_

Maureen Johnson sat on the front steps of her house wearing a sweater and jeans...not the usual pink frilly princess costume. Ah, how she missed those costumes.

Everything was set up...the music was playing, the living-room-turned-dance-floor was ready, the snack table was full of—well—snacks. Now all Maureen had to wait for were her guests.

A car pulled up in her driveway. Maureen ran up to greet her first guest...the one person who she didn't want to show up first. Mark Cohen. Maureen couldn't help but feel slightly nervous being around Mark alone...with her friends, it was different.

Mark got out of the car, followed by his mother. He was holding a bag of chips. He walked over to her.

"Hi Maureen. I brought chips, and---" He was cut off by his mother planting a huge kiss on his cheek and running off to the car, driving off down the road.

Maureen took the bag of chips from him. "Thanks, Mark."

He adjusted his glasses nervously. Maureen couldn't help but think that it was absolutely adorable when he fidgeted with his glasses.

"You're the first one here," she said. "C'mon, let's go."

She made the bold move of taking his hand to lead him inside.

Once everyone had arrived, the fun had begun. Maureen encouraged everyone to get up and dance. She and her friends were having a great time.

Mark, Roger, and Tom ended up sitting down eating pizza and drinking fruit punch after a while. Mimi, Maureen, Angel and Joanne were dancing away. They danced their way over to them.

"My God, how is it possible that you guys never stop dancing?" Roger blurted.

"We have lots of energy!" Angel said, jumping up and down.

Suddenly a new song came on, and Mimi and Maureen squealed simultaneously.

"OH MY GOD! I LOVE THIS SONG!" Mimi grabbed Roger's hand. "Roger, c'mon, dance with me!"

"Um. 'Dancing Queen'? I am not dancing to that song."

"But it's my favorite! Please, Roger?" Mimi begged, looking into his eyes. Roger rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine." She grabbed his hand and led him away.

Maureen walked up to Mark. "Marky? Do you wanna...dance with me? It's not a cheesie slow song or anything..." She trailed off.

Mark smiled a little. "Sure."

_You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life_

_Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen!

* * *

_

ANGEL'S POV:

Angel sat on the couch staring down at the ice in his fruit punch. Mimi was dancing away with Roger, and Maureen was having a great time dancing with Mark. Tom, Angel observed, was a great dancer. He was spinning Joanne around, tipping her upside down...making her giggle like crazy.

Everyone was dancing with somebody, except for Angel himself. He looked back down at his drink. Suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up. Joanne was smiling at him.

"Don't just sit there, Angel, come and dance with Tom and I. Mark, Maureen, Roger, and Mimi are in their own little worlds. Tom and I decided we should stay away from them."

Tom laughed and nodded. "I swear if Mark and Maureen or Roger and Mimi kiss, I'm gonna vomit up all that pizza."

Angel laughed. Joanne grabbed his arm. "Come on. It's more fun to dance with more people in fast songs."

He followed Joanne and Tom. He knew that with friends like his, he would never have to feel alone for long.

* * *

_MAUREEN'S POV:_

"Oh, crap! The babysitter's gonna die! The monster's gonna get her!" Mimi shrieked, grabbing on to Roger's arm. Roger awkwardly pulled away. The seven friends were sitting on the couch watching a horror flick on television. The music and the lights had been turned off, and the only source of light was the blaring of the television screen.

"No, you just _think_ she is. But she doesn't. She almost dies, but ends up finding a random weapon and destroys the monster. That's how all these movies are..." Tom muttered.

"Thanks for ruining the movie, Tom," Mark said.

"No problem, Mark."

Roger crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not scared. You guys are babies."

Tom smirked. "You sure about that?"

"Positive, dude."

After a couple of minutes, Tom slowly inched his face towards Roger and cried, "BOO!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Roger cried, almost jumping off the couch.

Angel grinned. "Not scared, huh?"

"That's not fair!"

Maureen smiled, watching her friends. In a matter of a night, she'd held Mark's hand, even danced with him—not to mention had a great time with her friends.

She marked that day as the best Halloween ever.


	7. Oh, the Drama of it All!

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! A lot of POV switching in this chapter...and it's VERY long. Butenjoy anyway

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_JOANNE'S POV:_

Joanne Jefferson pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. She always liked her hair out of her face when she was concentrating, especially when she was doing her homework. But either way, her mind was wandering away from her math worksheet.

A certain Thomas B. Collins was on her mind.

He was so mature for his age, so smart—Joanne literally looked up to him; admired him. Not to mention she had the tiniest little crush on him. Joanne had never, ever been interested in boys—sure, she liked to play football with them, but she couldn't imagine herself holding hands with a boy...or actually _kissing_ a boy. _Gross_. But Tom, she decided, was an exception.

Joanne had no intention of telling Tom how she felt. It would completely _ruin_ her image, she thought—boys, in her opinion, were idiots who were only good for playing sports with and just hanging around with. But then again...maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be holding hands with Thomas Collins---

_Snap out of it_, she told herself. She looked down at her worksheet, attempting to concentrate on the math, and her eyes widened. There, in the corner of the paper, was Tom's name written with hearts all around it. Joanne hadn't realized that she had been doodling while she was thinking.

_Crap..._

She grabbed her big pink eraser and began furiously erasing the name of the person who, she finally admitted to herself, she really,_ really_ did like.

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

_Ugh...My head hurts..._

Mark stepped out of his car into the brisk, cool November air. He sighed. Another long school day, another heap of big assignments, another reprimand from Mrs. Wright...Mark had woken up with a terrible headache (goodness knows he would never tell his mother—Mrs. Cohen would make it seem like he was dying and probably keep him home from school), and had a feeling it was going to be a bad day.

But then again, along with the assignments and the long six hours of the school day, he had his friends to look forward to...especially Maureen. _Maureen_...his crush since kindergarten who finally liked him back.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day after all.

He sighed again and threw his heavy backpack down beside his group of friends in the schoolyard.

"Hey Marky, how ya doin', dude?" Roger punched Mark lightly in the arm affectionately.

"It's _Mark_. Not Marky," replied Mark, rubbing his now extremely sore arm and adjusting his glasses with his other hand. Playful hit or not, Roger could really make a _mark_ on Mark.

Roger rolled his eyes. "Aww, dude, we've called you that, for, like, ever. It sticks, you know?"

"Yeah, but it's really...babyish," said Mark.

"No it isn't, Marky!" Tom replied. Mark shook his head and decided to give up with the name issue for the moment. He found himself blushing violently as Maureen put an arm around his shoulders. When she had ever done that before, he had always thought of it as a friendly gesture. But now they both considered it much more than that.

Mimi looked around. "Where's Angel?" she asked. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"I hope he's okay," Tom said quietly, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to keep himself warm in the cold weather.

Mimi smiled at him. "You worry about Angel too much."

"...I do?" Tom was completely oblivious.

"Yeah, dude," Roger said, "Totally."

Joanne was the only one who hadn't said anything. Mark glanced over at her. She was looking down at the floor, almost sheepishly. Joanne was never as loud as her best friend Maureen, but never this quiet before.

Soon the bell rang and everyone filed inside the school.

* * *

_MIMI'S POV:_

A few minutes after everyone got inside, Mrs. Wright was just beginning to take attendance when Angelo Schunard walked into the classroom, looking down at the floor, his backpack looking as if it were weighing him down.

"Angelo. You're late," Mrs. Wright said curtly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again," Angel said, still looking down at the floor. Mimi could tell there was something wrong with Angel. She had known him the longest out of all of her friends and always knew when he was upset. He took his seat in between Tom and Joanne after bringing his backpack into the coat room.

"Angel, are you okay?" Mimi leaned over and whispered to him. Angel nodded and got his pencil out to work on the Morning Work that Mrs. Wright had written on the board.

Mimi Marquez wasn't going to settle for a simple nod. She whispered to Mark, "Get Tom."

She watched as Mark tapped Tom on the shoulder and whispered something, prompting Tom to lean back as casually as possible as Mrs. Wright took attendance to look at Mimi.

"Talk to Angel," Mimi mouthed. Tom nodded. Mimi had a feeling that he knew exactly what he had to do.

* * *

_TOM'S POV:_

Thomas B. Collins rarely got frustrated over anything...but now, as Angel was refusing to tell him anything every time he asked what was wrong, he was beginning to get just a little bit annoyed. It was lunch time now, and he still didn't know what was wrong. Joanne, who sat on the other side of Angel, had also been desperately trying to make Angel tell them what was wrong. But Angel had said nothing to either of them.

He sat down next to Angel at lunch. He looked around at everyone, giving them a pleading look. All of them took the hint, except for Roger.

"Dude, do you have to, like, pee or something? You have a weird look on your face," Roger said. Maureen laughed loudly and had to cover her mouth with her hand. Mark buried his face in his hands. Tom sighed, and he watched as Mimi leaned over and whispered what was going on in Roger's ear.

"Oh..._Ohh_...Dude!...Okay. I get it."

Soon they were all leaning into the table, crowded around Angel.

"What's wrong, Angel, you gotta tell us!" Maureen chirped.

Angel was silent.

"Dude, you look, like, really sad," Roger said, "And it's, like, not cool."

"Oh, those were such comforting words, Roger," Mark said sarcastically.

"Shut up, dude!"

"Stop fighting, you two!" Mimi interrupted. "Let Angel talk to us. You can talk to us, sweetie!"

Angel looked up at all of them. "Look," he said quietly.

He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater to reveal a few bruises on his left arm.

Joanne's eyes widened. "Who did that to you?"

"My dad. But he told me he didn't mean to...he said he didn't...he said...he won't do it again and...he said..." Angel choked up and looked down at his hands.

"Oh, God, Angel..." Mark muttered. Tom immediately put an arm around Angel.

"Dude," Roger muttered, at a loss for words.

"Aren't ya gonna call the cops or something? Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Maureen asked.

"No...he said he...wouldn't do it...again...and I...I'm just..."

Mimi ran over to the other side of the table and hugged Angel. "It's okay to be scared, Angel!"

"No..." Angel whispered. "No, it's not. My dad said boys are tough and don't get scared like I do."

"That's not true!" Tom cried. "Don't listen to him, Angel! Everybody gets scared."

"Tom's right," Joanne agreed.

Tom still had a protective arm around Angel's shoulders. He sighed and slowly pulled away.

There was too much drama being a fifth grader._ Way _too much.


	8. Sneezes and Coughs and Fevers, Oh My!

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Hope you like this chapter.**

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_TOM'S POV:_

When he heard his mother call up to him from the stairs to tell him to get ready for school, Tom had already been awake quite a while.

He just couldn't gather up the strength to get out of bed.

He was shivering, yet he felt like he was burning. His entire body ached. He knew that could only mean he had a fever.

_Crap...I feel sick...But I don't wanna miss school..._

Eventually his mother came upstairs expecting her son to be all ready for school, but instead finding him still lying in bed with a fever of one-hundred and two.

"You're staying home, Thomas Collins," his mother announced.

Tom opened his mouth to protest—but then his eyes widened, and he covered his mouth and ran into the bathroom instead.

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_MAUREEN'S POV:_

"MOMMY! You _cannot_ possibly send me to school in this condition!" Maureen Johnson stormed down the stairs into the kitchen. She only called her mother 'mommy' when she really wanted something. And she _really_ wanted to stay home from school that day.

Mrs. Johnson looked up from her coffee. "My goodness, Maureen, your face is all flushed!" She walked over to touch her daughter's forehead.

"Usually you're over-dramatic about being sick, sweetie, but you've really got a fever this time!" she said.

Maureen sighed dramatically. "I feel icky. Do I have to go to school?"

"Not with a fever!"

"Goody! Now I get to watch TV!" she started to run towards the TV but then paused.

"Whadaya mean, _over-dramatic_!"

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MARK'S POV:

Mark Cohen had a feeling that he'd caught the flu that had been going around. It was the last week of November and that was usually when everyone started getting sick. He shivered and pulled the covers up around him. He couldn't keep this from his mother...headaches, he could lie about. And he _did_ have headache—along with a cold, a cough, most likely a fever, and a horrible feeling of nausea. He definitely wasn't going to school that day.

He made an attempt to get up out of bed, he put his glasses on. As soon as he did so, he began to feel dizzy and fell right onto the floor.

_Nice going, Mark_, he thought, _You're sick, and now you're gonna get a bump on your head to add to the ailments...Mom's gonna flip out._

Sure enough: "Mark Cohen! What are you doing on the floor! Your face is flushed! What happened? Oh, dear, are you sick? Oh my...You're going to stay home today, young man!"

Mark sighed. _Great._

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MIMI'S POV:

"Whoa, where is everyone?" Mimi asked. They were standing outside in the schoolyard. So far, only Roger and Mimi had shown up that morning out of their group of friends.

"Dunno..." Roger muttered. "They all ditched us, I guess."

Mimi laughed. "Yeah, right." She inched a little closer to him. "It's cold, huh?"

"Yeah...yeah, dude, it's really cold."

"Roger, don't call me 'dude'. I'm a _girl_," Mimi said. Roger looked up at her and shrugged.

"Sorry...it's a habit. And I know you're a girl."

She looked him in the eye. "Then treat me like one." She shivered. "God, I wish I brought my gloves!"

There was a moment of silence. "Here," Roger pulled his mittens out of his pocket. "You can use mine, 'kay?"

Mimi gingerly took the mittens from his hands and put them on. They were a little big, but warm all the same.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

" 'Welcome, Mimi."

She was happy that he used her name instead of 'dude'.

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_ROGER'S POV:_

Only four out of the seven friends ended up coming to school that day.

"Does anyone else besides me find this really weird? I mean, having only four of us sitting here and all?" Joanne asked, sipping her soda as they sat in the cafeteria.

Angel raised his hand. "I do."

"Dude, can I have one of those crackers?" Roger asked, turning towards Angel. He took one from him before Angel could protest.

"Um...I was gonna say you could have one anyway, Rog," Angel said, shaking his head and popping a cracker into his mouth.

Roger blinked. "Sorry."

There was a long moment of silence.

"If Maureen was here, there'd be a lot more noise than this," Mimi muttered. Angel laughed.

Joanne let out a sigh. "Um, guys, since it's just the four of us...I gotta tell you something," she said.

Mimi leaned across the table. "Is it gossip? Tell!"

Roger rolled his eyes and Angel leaned into the table as well.

"I...have a crush on...someone."

"Who!" Mimi cried.

Joanne took a deep breath. "Tom."

Mimi let out a little squeal and Angel smirked. Roger burst out laughing.

"Don't tell him!" Joanne said quickly.

"We won't," Roger said.

"Promise?"

"Promise," Mimi, Angel, and Roger said in unison.

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_ANGEL'S POV:_

"Angelo!" A booming voice rang through the ears of Angel Schunard, sending chills down his spine. He was sitting in his room doing his homework. He hated when his father interrupted him while he was studying.

"Yeah, dad?" he called out from his desk.

_Thump, thump, thump..._ He heard his father coming up the stairs. Angel gulped. This couldn't mean anything good. He turned around to see his father standing there in front of him. Mr. Schunard towered over Angel, looking him right in the eye.

"Phone call for you," he said calmly.

Angel blinked. He had expected much more than that. But he was quite relieved. He ran as fast as he could down the stairs and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said into the phone.

"Hi," said a stuffy voice on the other line. Then a congested sniff.

Angel thought for a moment, and then recognized who it was. "Tom! Hi! I heard you're sick...there's the flu goin' around."

A sneeze. "Yeah. I called Mark for a question on our homework assignments that my mom picked up for me from the school office...and found out that he's sick too. And so is Maureen. So I wanted to know if you got the page of the book we have to do for the Math assignment. Mrs. Wright didn't give it to me."

"Yeah, I got it, it's page four-hundred and seven," Angel said.

"Thanks," Tom replied. Cough. Sneeze. Cough again.

Angel frowned. "You sound really sick..."

"I am," said Tom, sighing. "Anyway, how are you? Like, is your dad bothering you again at all? I mean, I know the whole thing happened weeks ago but..."

"I'm fine. He's been...nicer to me," Angel replied. He could almost hear his best friend's smile on the other line.

"That's good." Another sneeze. "Crap, my mom's making me get off the phone...before I go, anything exciting happen today that I should know about?"

_Besides the fact that Joanne Jefferson revealed that she likes you?_ "No, not really."

"Okay. Well thanks for the info, I'll see you when I get back to school, which probably won't be for a little while. Bye."

"Bye!" He hung up the phone, only to find out that the phone was ringing again.

"Hello?"

"Angel? It's Maureen. Ugh, in case you didn't know, I was home sick today, and I wanted to know the page number for the math assignment..."

Angel sighed. It was definitely going to be a long night of hearing sneezes and coughing on the phone line.


	9. Do What Your Heart Tells You

**A/N: WOOHOO! More than 100 reviews already! Thank you so much!  
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!**

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ANGEL'S POV:

"There are exactly twenty days 'till Christmas, guys! I'm counting down!" Angel Schunard squealed. They had all gathered at his house to study for a Science test together. His father hadn't returned home from work yet and didn't know about the gathering. He never liked it when he wasn't informed about things...Angel could only hope his father's reaction would be calm and collected like he had been the past couple of days.

Maureen nodded enthusiastically. "I've made my list of stuff for Santa Clause to get me already!"

"You still believe in Santa?" Joanne asked.

Maureen shrugged. "I'd like to...it brings a certain kinda magic when you try to fall asleep on Christmas Eve...And you feel warm and fuzzy inside. You know?""

"No," Roger said flatly, reaching to grab a cookie out of the plate Angel's mother had brought upstairs to them.

Mimi laughed. "You're a dummy, Rog." She smiled at him and he smiled back, quickly looking down at the floor.

"Aren't we supposed to be studying instead of watching you two flirt and spread lovey-dovey cooties?" Maureen glared daggers at Roger.

"What the heck are 'lovey-dovey cooties'? That phrase doesn't even exist, dude!" Roger muttered.

"It does in the Dictionary of Maureen Johnson, so there!"

"Guys, guys, _stop_!" Mark broke up the fight between the two friends. "Okay, I'm gonna ask the first question and pick who I wanna ask it to. Tom, what's every living thing made up of?"

"Cells," Tom answered. Mark nodded and gave him his notebook so that Tom could ask the next question.

"Hey, Angel, what's the difference between a vertebrate and invertebrate?"

They continued the answer-then-ask method for a full hour (Roger, who hadn't bothered to even glace at his notes, had gotten most of the questions wrong), until there was a knock on the door, interrupting them. The door opened and Angel's father was standing in the doorway.

"Angelo, I didn't know you had company..." He looked around the room at all the kids, unflinching, his expression unreadable.

Angel blinked, standing up. "Uh, mom was home when I came back from school and I asked her if I could have everyone over to study. She said that it was fine...she made us cookies and everything before she went shopping."

"She never called me at work and told me," Mr. Schunard replied.

"Um...I thought...she...would have..." Angel was feeling a combination of fright and embarrassment...he was wondering if his father would do anything bad when there were people around...

He motioned for Angel to come closer to him. Angel gulped and walked towards his father, and glanced back at his friends who were all staring wide-eyed at him.

Mr. Schunard grabbed Angel by the shirt and pulled him closer, whispering in his ear, "Next time, you tell your mother to freakin' call me. I wanna know when there are damn people in my house. You hear?"

Angel nodded quickly, and his father shoved him away and walked out of the room.

"Angel, you okay?" Tom asked after a long moment of silence.

Angel looked up from staring at the ground and smiled a little. "Yeah. I'm fine." He wandered over to sit down next to Mimi. "Whose turn was it again?"

Silence.

"Come on, guys, you weren't like this before. If you're gonna sit there and feel bad for me because my dad's being an idiot, you might as well just leave," Angel snapped.

More silence.

"It's just..." Joanne finally said, in almost a whisper, "It's so horrible...how he treats you and stuff."

Tom sighed loudly and looked down at the ground.

"I'm used to it," Angel said, "Don't worry about me. Cheer up! You guys are never like this. Most of the time you're either happy, hyper, or ridiculously spontaneous."

"What's spontaneous?" Roger asked.

"Random," Mark answered, adjusting his glasses.

Roger nodded in realization. "Oh, right. I knew that."

"Angel, you know we're here for ya, right?" Mimi asked, flinging an arm around her friend's shoulders.

Angel smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

--------------------

TOM'S POV:

They ended up studying for another hour, and, feeling confident about the Science test, the group of friends decided to call their parents to come and pick them up. They all said goodbye to each other and soon it was only Joanne, Tom, and of course, Angel left in the house.

"My mom's always late," Tom muttered.

"Mine too," replied Joanne quietly. She looked outside and said, "Oh, there's my mom! I had an awesome time, Angel, thanks for having me over!"

"No problem. See ya tomorrow, Jo!" Angel waved goodbye to her friend.

Joanne slipped a piece of paper into Tom's hand before slinging her backpack over her shoulders and running out the door.

Tom looked at the piece of looseleaf in his hands. It was folded neatly—very typical of Joanne Jefferson. He slowly opened it up and read what it said inside. There, in neat cursive writing, were the words:

_I like you. More than as a friend._

He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and then read the note again. It couldn't be possible. Not Joanne Jefferson...not the Joanne he knew. He didn't know what to think...

He hadn't noticed that Angel had been reading over his shoulder. He whirled around.

"Holy crap, you scared me!"

Angel smirked. "She used the note method. Short and sweet. Good for her! Took her a little while to tell you though..."

"...You knew?"

"You should know by now that I pretty much know everything. Ooh, there's your mom!" The smirk still on his face, Angel ushered a bewildered Thomas Collins out of the house.

Before he started walking to his car, Angel asked, "So, are you gonna write back? Talk to her?"

Tom turned back towards Angel. "I dunno. What do you think I should do?"

Angel giggled and threw his hands up dramatically. "Do what your _heart_ tells you!"

Tom smiled and waved goodbye. He knew that Angel had been joking when he had made that statement, but as he made his way to his car, he wondered if that truly was the best thing to do.


	10. Decisions

**A/N: YAY! Thanks for the reviews! Just a quick little note here...a lot of you folks seem to be flipping out about the whole Joanne/Collins thing. Remember, the kiddies are only in fifth grade. Most people find out they're gay a little later in life. So don't expect Tom to come running to Angel when he's 10 years old. And don't diss poor Joanne because she could potentially 'steal' Tom from Angel. Just clarifying that. Thanks! R&R please!**

**I OWN NOTHING.**

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_MARK'S POV:_

Mark stared down at the crumpled piece of paper in Tom's hand.

_I like you. More than as a friend._

Both he and Roger had been called over to the other side of the playground during recess break, while the girls—and Angel, who already knew about Joanne's note—were on the opposite side. The excuse had been that they needed to talk about 'guy stuff'. Maureen, Joanne, and Mimi had been suspicious of course, but in the end, had let the guys go off in their own little corner. Angel had just nodded understandingly.

"Guys, what am I gonna do?" Tom asked, handing the note to Roger and fidgeting with his hands nervously.

Roger looked down at the note and bit his lower lip. "Dude. She totally likes you."

"Wouldn't that be painfully obvious by now?" Mark asked, adjusting his glasses. "It says it right on the paper!"

"Well, I'm stating the obvious facts first, dummy. That's how you solve a problem," retorted Roger.

Mark shook his head. "Not necessarily."

"Shut up, Mark."

"Guys! _Focus_, here! I need your advice," Tom interrupted. Mark sighed. He didn't know what advice he could possibly give to Tom. He wasn't good with girl stuff...sure, he liked Maureen (a lot) but when he was put into situations like that, it was quite difficult to be able to decide what to do.

"Dude, do you like her?" Roger asked, looking at his friend with a serious expression on his face.

Tom looked down at the ground. "I...I don't know! I mean...I'm not much into girls."

"Oh yeah, that's right, you're the only_ crazy _one in our class who hasn't checked out Cassandra McKelly in the sixth grade yet," muttered Roger.

"What? I really don't think she's that good-looking!"

"Like I said, dude, you're crazy. Mark, isn't Cassandra hot?"

Mark blinked. "Yeah. Yeah, she is."

"SEE! You're just crazy, Tom. You haven't been obsessed with one girl, ever! You know who you're obsessed with? _Angel_. A-n-g-e-l."

"Yay for you, Rog, you spelled his name right. Didn't think you could do that," Tom snapped.

Mark just watched as the two bickered, not sure exactly what to say or do.

"And you know what?" Roger continued, "Angel is a boy. A _boy_. Not a girl."

"Who ever said I was obsessed with him? That's creepy!"

Roger glanced at Mark, "Mark, isn't Tom obsessed with Angel?"

"I...no...I mean...STOP ASKING ME THESE QUESTIONS!" Mark sighed and watched some more as the two fought.

"Listen to me, Rog. 'Obsessed' isn't the right word. Angel's going through a lot of crap and I just wanna look out for him. That's what friends _do_, Roger! But you wouldn't know, 'cause all you care about is yourself, and girls...and personally, I don't think you treat Mimi the way you should. Calling her 'dude' all the time. If I were her, I wouldn't be too happy 'bout that!"

"Guys, stop..." Mark muttered. He didn't like where this was going.

"Stop acting like you know everything, Tom. You don't. You don't know about Mimi and me, you don't know anythin'..." Roger's voice was rising. "So just shut up."

Mark looked at both of them. "You guys need to stop..."

Tom shook his head, "I'm not gonna shut up. I need your advice, not a fight with you, okay!"

There was a long moment of silence.

"I'm sorry," Roger finally said, "I didn't mean to say that stuff...about you..."

"It's okay...I guess I shouldn't have said the stuff I said, too."

Another moment of silence.

"Dude, what the heck are you gonna do about Joanne?" Roger finally asked.

"Need I remind you again that the only reason I called you guys over here was to figure that out?" Tom asked.

"You talk funny, dude."

"Maybe you should just tell her...how you're not into girls...and stuff," Mark suggested.

Tom thought for a moment. "But I don't wanna hurt her feelings! She's my friend, for cryin' out loud...I don't know what to say..."

"Wait, back up here, dude. If you're not into girls, what are you into? Frogs?" Roger held up his hands.

Tom rolled his eyes. "That's right, Rog, I think _frogs_ are hot," he said sarcastically. Mark burst out laughing, clutching his sides. Then came a little chuckle from Tom and a big laugh from Roger.

"Dude, I guess you're right...but whenever you get into girls, let me know, 'cause you need to check out Cassandra McKelly."

--------------------

_JOANNE'S POV:_

A couple of weeks flew by, and now it was already the last day before Christmas vacation. Tom hadn't said anything to Joanne about her note yet, and it was getting her very nervous.

She had told the girls (and Angel) about the note a while ago. Angel had already figured it out...Joanne knew by now that Angel pretty much knew everything.

It was so obvious now. He didn't like her back. Joanne wasn't sure how she should feel about that at the moment...but she had a feeling that if he wasn't saying anything by now, it couldn't mean anything promising.

Of course, the group of friends being as close as they were, they had exchanged gifts that previous weekend. Everyone had gotten each other some kind of kinky and small gift for Christmas. When Joanne and Tom had exchanged gifts it had been extremely awkward for both of them.

Now, school was letting out in a good ten minutes, and the feeling of excitement was quite present amongst the fifth grade classroom.

"God, I can't _wait_ to get outta school!" Roger cried.

"I can't, either," Mimi squealed jumping up and down excitedly.

Maureen flipped her hair back and smiled at Mark, who blushed violently. "I'm gonna call you over Christmas Break, Marky, so you'd better pick up!"

"I...I will..." Mark was in a daze. Roger and Tom glanced at each other and smirked.

Angel casually walked over to Joanne and whispered, "If he doesn't come talk to you in the next few minutes, make your move."

Joanne nodded and looked down at her hands sheepishly. The bell rang and she looked up. Kids were running all around, grabbing their backpacks, saying their goodbyes and running out the door.

"Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and all that crap!" Roger cried, swinging his backpack around and running out the door.

"And that was Roger's big finale exit," Mimi giggled. She hugged everyone, wished them all a happy holiday, and left as well.

Maureen refused to leave until Mark did, so she could talk to him all the way outside.

Angel walked around and squeezed Joanne's shoulder and waved goodbye to Tom, saying, _"Feliz Navidad_!" before disappearing out the door.

Now it was just the two of them and a bunch of other kids announcing their departures.

"Um...Joanne?" Tom said.

Joanne took a couple of steps towards him. "Yeah?"

"I...I'm...I can't..." Tom found himself stuttering. He took a deep breath, and then started over again. "I really like you, Joanne..."

Joanne felt like she was walking on air.

"...But not...y'know...more than friends."

_Ker-plop_. No more walking on air for her. She'd fallen face-down on the muddy, disgusting ground known as rejection.

"I'm...really sorry," Tom continued.

Joanne looked up. "No, really, it's okay."

"But I---"

"Just forget it, Tom...Gotta go. Merry Christmas!"

She waved goodbye to him and to Mrs. Wright and ran out the door before anyone could see her crying.


	11. Resolutions

**A/N: AngelxCollins pointed out to me that almost every review for Chapter 10 started out with "Aw! Poor Joanne!". We both find that really amusing. Check it out if you don't believe me. Those three words start out almost every review. LMAO! Thanks for the reviews!**

**I OWN NOTHING.**

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_MIMI'S POV:_

"What did you get for Christmas, Joanne?" Mimi asked happily. The group had gathered on that cold January morning after the holiday vacation at the schoolyard. They were asking one another what presents they had received.

Joanne shrugged. "A bunch of new records and stuff."

"You don't seem too excited," Maureen chimed in, "I was excited when I got the fluffy pink pillow I wanted for my room! And this cute little stuffed animal cow."

Mark shook his head, and Roger laughed. "A cow?"

"What? I like cows!"

Tom smirked. Mimi watched as he glanced over at Joanne, who immediately looked away.

Mimi could tell that there was something wrong with Joanne. She looked extremely saddened and Mimi had a feeling she knew the reason why. Joanne had been acting just fine until Tom had showed up in the schoolyard. What she needed, Mimi decided, was someone to talk to.

"Hey, Joanne, you wanna see my new _keychain_ on my _backpack_ that I got for Christmas?" Mimi's eyes shifted to where she had thrown her backpack, a little farther away from the group—a perfect place to talk without anyone listening in. Joanne took the hint and started to walk towards Mimi.

"Keychain? Really? Is it sparkly?" Angel piped up.

Mimi glared at Angel, who, after a while, realized what was going on and nodded.

"Ooooooooh! Okay, you can show me later!"

Mimi grabbed Joanne's arm and lead her away.

"What happened, Jo?"

Joanne shook her head. "Nothing."

"Don't gimme that crap. What did he say to you?" Mimi asked firmly.

"He says he's not interested in girls." Joanne said flatly. "Stupid excuse. It's just _me_ he's not interested in. He doesn't like me and he just doesn't wanna say it."

Mimi shook her head and put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Boys. They're such idiots. Someday, we're gonna be in middle school, and then high school, and we'll get the best boyfriends ever, who aren't stupid and cruddy like the ones we're stuck with!"

"Amen." They both turned around to see Maureen standing there.

"Maureen! This was a private conversation," Mimi scolded.

Maureen shrugged. "I heard it all anyway. I won't tell."

"I'm really glad I have you guys to talk to," said Joanne. "It means a lot."

"You can always talk to us! We'll give you advice on anything. I'm loud but I know what I'm talking about," Maureen replied, hugging Joanne.

Mimi smirked. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"HEY!"

--------------------

_TOM'S POV:_

After lunchtime, Tom and Joanne still hadn't said much to each other.

"Next year in middle school, you will be learning a lot more about Area and Perimeter. These are simply the basics. Copy these notes into your Math notebooks, please," Mrs. Wright said, glaring each and every student in the eye.

Tom hadn't been paying attention to his teacher. He had been doodling on his notebook page. He watched absentmindedly as Mrs. Wright took her seat at her desk.

_Stupid old bat..._

Tom hated Mrs. Wright. At the moment, he hated everything. Especially the things that were annoying him at the moment. Like the fact that he'd hurt Joanne's feelings, the fact that Roger had just received an awesome bike for Christmas and Tom himself had gotten an itchy, fuzzy sweater instead—not to mention that his family was going to have leftover ham from Christmas for dinner that night. Tom didn't like ham. Not one little bit.

"Tom, I'm already almost finished with my notes, and you haven't even started yet!" came Angel's squeaky whisper in his ear.

"Yeah, whatever..." Tom muttered. "It ain't a race. Either way, you'll finish writing before me."

Angel blinked. "Somebody didn't take their happy pills today!"

"What the heck!"

"My mom says that a lot. I think it's funny, don't you?" Angel was smiling—that certain smile that always managed to make Tom smile back. But not that day. No. Tom had no intention of smiling at anyone.

"...Tom? You should just talk to Joanne, okay? Then you can—"

Tom's head shot up from jotting down his notes. "Angel, stop telling me what to do, okay? I know what I'm doin'. You act like you know how to solve every single problem. You don't."

Angel looked slightly hurt for a moment, but the look faded quickly. "Yeah. Um, okay. I get it...Sorry..."

Tom knew he'd hurt Angel's feelings. But for once, he wanted to worry about his own feelings instead of Angel's.

--------------------

_JOANNE'S POV:_

Joanne ran over to Tom as he was grabbing his backpack.

"Hey! Tom! Hold on a sec!" Joanne grabbed his arm.

Tom looked at her sheepishly. "Uh...Hi, Joanne...um...I know I...kinda...got you sad...and I guess that wasn't a very good Christmas present, huh? I'm sorry."

"It's really, okay, Tom. I understand. I talked to Mimi and Maureen this morning and I feel a lot better," Joanne replied, smiling. Her smile faded and she looked down at her shoes. "I still like you, though...but you don't have to feel bad."

Tom shook his head. "It's not that I don't like you, Joanne, I really do...it's just..."

"Girls aren't your thing right now," Joanne finished, smirking.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean? Why're you smiling?" Tom asked.

Joanne shrugged. "No reason...Anyway, my dad won't let me have a boyfriend till I'm sixteen anyway. Do you believe that? I mean, I have to wait _six whole years_! That is a total crime, Tom!"

Tom laughed. "I guess it is, huh? Well I gotta go, see you tomorrow, okay?"

"See you, Tom!"

Joanne felt really happy about the fact that she'd gotten her emotions off her chest. She grabbed her backpack and happily skipped away.

--------------------

_MARK'S POV:_

Mark swung his backpack over his shoulders and watched as Angel reluctantly grabbed his and started to walk into the hallway. Something wasn't right. Angel had been just fine the last time Mark had talked to him.

Mark ran over to him. "Hey, Angel, you okay?" he asked, a tone of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He paused. "Mark, do you think I'm annoying?"

Mark shook his head quickly. "No, no you're not annoying! Why you askin'?"

"'Cause I'm always in everyone else's business. It stinks to know that people get annoyed when I'm around. Well, I'll see you tomorrow...Bye." And with that, Angel disappeared.

Mark sighed. _If it isn't one person in our group with tons of drama, it's another._


	12. Say It Like Ya Mean It

**A/N: Thanks, yet again for all the kind reviews! Don't hate me for what I make Angel do in this chappie. I just like building drama. When I was in fifth grade, there was TONS of drama. Please. You don't even wanna know. Enjoy!**

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TOM'S POV:

Thomas Collins chewed on his fingernail as he studied for the big Social Studies test the following day. Mrs. Wright tended to give tests at short notice. Tom suspected she did such things on purpose, out of mere spite.

Still trying to stuff all the information into his brain, Tom didn't even notice the phone ringing.

"Tom," Mr. Collins said, bringing Tom out of his trance.

"Uh-huh?"

Mr. Collins held out the phone. "It's Angel."

Tom eagerly grabbed the phone. "Hi, Angel!" he said happily.

"What page is the Social Studies chapter review on?" was Angel's curt reply.

Tom blinked at the receiver, surprised at the tone of Angel's usually happy and squeaky voice. "It's...page one-hundred and sixty-four."

"Thank you."

Tom quickly asked before Angel could hang up, "Hey, is something wrong?"

A pause. "No. I have to go study."

"Don't change the subjec' on me. You mad?"

"_No_."

Tom rolled his eyes. "That definitely meant a 'yes'."

"If you say so, Mr. Know-it-All."

Tom sighed. "Cut the crap, Angel. I know you're mad at me." Then suddenly, it hit Tom like a slap in the face. He remembered, now.

_Angel, stop telling me what to do, okay? I know what I'm doin'. You act like you know how to solve every single problem. You don't._

He remembered not even acknowledging the saddened look on his best friend's face.

"Angel, if this is about what happened—"

Before he could finish, the line went dead.

--------------------

ROGER'S POV:

"Dude, he hung up on you? I thought _Mimi_ was the only one who did that to_ me_." Roger Davis had listened intently as Tom explained what had happened during his phone conversation with Angel the night before.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Not everything originated with you, Rog."

"Shut it, Cohen."

Mimi laughed. "I do _not_ hang up on you!"

"Do too."

Tom sighed. "He's probably gonna come to school still mad at me."

Roger glanced at Mimi standing beside him, her backpack weighing down her tiny body. "Angel has a temper sometimes, Tom. I should know. I've known him for a long time."

Maureen, who had been standing on the other side of Roger, spoke up: "He'll handle it how most guys handle things. He'll be all mean and then apologize like there it's nothing."

"I don't think Angel really focuses on what most _guys_ do, Mo," Roger said. He received a death-glare from Tom. Sure enough, when Roger turned around, Angel was standing there.

Roger gulped. "Oh...uh...Angel. Hi. We were just talking about you."

"I noticed," Angel replied. He looked around at everyone, and then stared eye-to-eye at Tom for a long time. Roger was having a bad feeling about that look.

_MARK'S POV:_

Mark didn't want to know what was going to happen next. Angel had this certain flare in his eyes that Mark had never, ever seen before. In all honesty, it was scaring the living crap out of him.

"You..." Angel muttered, walking closer to Tom. "You...started...this."

Tom's eyes widened. "Started what? Angel...What're you doing?"

Angel looked around wildly at everyone. "You're always sayin', 'Leave Angel alone, he's different.' Different. Haven't we been through this before? I'm not gonna smile and bear it anymore."

"Angel, I just wanted to---"

"Shut up, Tom. Just _shut_ up. Let's face it. I'm almost eleven years old. I like dresses and sparkles. 'Different' isn't the right word, is it?"

Tom was backing away from Angel slowly. "I didn't mean to..." He trailed off. Mark just felt like he was going to be sick.

"That's what you always say. You didn't _mean_ it. Well, guess what?" Angel balled his hand into a fist. "I mean _this_!"

Mark watched as Angel rammed his fist into Tom's face, sending him flying to the ground.

Mimi screamed.

Roger's mouth dropped open.

Maureen started to cry.

Joanne turned away.

And Mark stared at his friend lying on the ground, not sure of what to think or feel.

Roger was the first to move. "Tom! Dude! My _God_!" He ran over and knelt down beside Tom, who was covering his nose. Blood was seeping through his hand.

Angel was panting heavily. Before Mark knew it, Mrs. Wright was towering over Angel, saying, "The principal's office. NOW."

Mrs. Wright started to walk away, Angel in tow. Angel had tears streaming down his face as he tried to break away from Mrs. Wright's firm grip on his wrist.

_MAUREEN'S POV:_

Maureen liked to cry on a regular basis. It was good for the soul, she decided. Of course, being 100 drama queen helped that theory along, too. Most of the time, Maureen cried over the littlest issues, or over nothing at all—even for mere spontaneousness.

But watching her friend get punched in the face by _another_ friend—that hurt.

She sat picking at her food as Mimi finally walked over to the table. Maureen couldn't bear to eat anything.

"Angel got a suspension," Mimi announced flatly. She shoved Roger out of the way so that she could sit beside him. Mimi and Roger had a weird way of randomly shoving each other, Maureen observed.

"What about Tom?" Mark asked quietly.

Mimi managed a small smile. "I asked Mrs. Wright. She said Tom went to the hospital but now he's back home...said there was just a lot of blood. Can you believe he actually managed _not_ to break his nose!"

"You serious? Wow. He got lucky," said Roger.

Joanne looked up from her food. "Whether he's lucky or not doesn't matter. He still got hurt."

Roger shrugged. "Angel's puny. I'm surprised he was able to hit that hard."

"Shut up, Roger!" everyone shouted in unison.

Maureen sighed dramatically. "I feel _so_ bad..." She put down her sandwich. There was _no_ way she could possibly eat any lunch that day.


	13. Band Aids Can't Fix Everything

**A/N: School has kept me quite busy, so I haven't been updating as much. Sorry! To make up for it: Very long chapter. Yay. Enjoy!**

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_ANGEL'S POV:_

Angel lay sprawled out on the bed in his room. He had completed his suspension, but had no intention of going back to school. He couldn't possibly go. He had made his decision.

That is, until his father came into the picture.

The bedroom door burst open. "Ángelo, get up. You're going to school," Mr. Schunard barked, his voice sending chills up and down Angel's spine.

"But, Dad, I can't —"

"You can, and you will. It's bad enough you got a damn suspension in the first place. Get up and get dressed. _Now_."

Angel didn't move.

"Do you hear me?" Angel's eyes widened with fear as his father moved closer to him. "GET. UP. NOW."

Tears burning in the back of his eyes, Angel got out of bed and hurried around to find an outfit for school.

_MIMI'S POV:_

It was February 1st. Freezing. Mimi huddled closer to Roger, who awkwardly shifted from foot to foot.

"Is Angel comin' back to school today?" Joanne inquired as the group of friends stood outside waiting for school to begin.

Mimi was waiting for one of her friends to ask that. "Yup," she answered. No one said anything in response to that. No one knew exactly _what_ to say.

Tom scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. He had a cut on the back of his head from when he had fallen to the pavement only a couple of days before that was now covered by a band-aid.

"I hate Band-Aids..." Tom muttered, breaking the silence.

Roger nodded. "Me too."

Mark said nothing. Mimi glanced at Maureen who seemed transfixed on her pinkie finger. The silence was almost unbearable. If they were this quiet now, Mimi could only imagine how awkward it would turn out to be when Angel finally showed up.

As if on cue, Angel, walking sluggishly as he carried his backpack, entered the schoolyard.

"Act casual," Mimi commanded, her voice low, "Like this whole thing never happened."

Mimi knew how to handle Angel. She'd known him since pre-school, after all. She watched as he hesitantly took a couple of steps towards the group.

Mimi motioned for him to come over. She knew that Angel trusted her enough to know that he was allowed to hang out with the group if she said it was okay.

Angel walked over to the seven friends and threw his backpack onto the ground.

"Hi, Angel," Mimi said, trying to sound cheerful.

She could only hope that the cheerfulness was somehow contagious.

_TOM'S POV:_

It was strange. Angel had looked Tom right in the eye that morning and said nothing at all. Now that Tom thought about it as he did his Math assignment, Angel hadn't said much of anything to anyone yet. It had been two hours.

Yet, a part of Tom didn't want to talk to Angel. Even sitting next to him got him just a little bit nervous, after what had happened the last time he'd tried to talk to him.

_A big punch in the face is what I got. God, that hurt. So much for reasoning._

The other part of him wished all of this had never happened. Angel was a great person. So he was a little on the feminine side. Big deal! He was still one of Tom's best friends. Tom knew he hadn't done what he did on purpose.

As he was easily jotting down problem number twenty-four without even having to think about it (Tom was quite good at math), he felt something touch the back of his head where the Band-Aid was.

His instinct told him to immediately reach for the back of his neck—and when he did so, he felt another person's hand instead of the weird texture of the much-hated Band-Aid.

"Hold still."

That was Angel's whisper. It dawned on Tom to glance to his right, where, sure enough, Angel was kneeling on his chair to reach him. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly with concentration. Tom dropped his hand and let Angel do whatever it was he was doing. But he couldn't help but tense up at his friend's touch.

When Angel had returned to a normal sitting position at his desk, confirming that he was finished, Tom looked over at him.

"What the heck were you doing?"

Angel looked up at him from his Math book, his brown eyes full of obvious affection. "Your Band-Aid was falling off. I wanted to fix it."

"Oh..." It was the first time they had spoken that day. "Thanks."

Angel didn't reply.

As he was heading to lunch, Tom felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to face Angel.

Angel looked at him for a long time. "I...I didn't...What I did...I..."

"It's okay, Angel," Tom said before Angel even had the chance to form his apology.

Angel looked down at his shoes. "I feel...really stupid. And...I'm really sorry that...I kinda-sorta-punched-ya-in-the-face. I was just upset, ya know?"

"Don't feel stupid. I'm fine. Hey, at least I got a day outta school..."

Angel laughed. The sound rang through Tom's ears and he couldn't help but smile. Angel looked around as if to make sure no one was in the hallway, and quickly grabbed Tom and pulled him into a hug. Tom looked around quickly himself before awkwardly putting an arm around Angel's shoulders.

Angel broke away and bounced up and down."Let's go to lunch. I'm starving."

The fact that Angel could go from depressed to giggly in minutes amazed Tom.

" I'll bet you any money Roger and Mimi are fighting about_ something_."

Little did Tom know how right Angel was.

_MARK'S POV:_

"Mimi, I still don't understand what I did!"

"Shut up and leave me alone, Roger!"

Mark Cohen sighed as he grabbed his lunch box and followed a very confused Roger and an extremely frustrated Mimi to the cafeteria.

"What the heck is wrong with you two this time?" he called out, trying to catch up with them.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Roger's being an idiot. He called me fat."

"No, I didn't!" Roger protested. "I swear, dude, I did not call her fat."

Mark took a seat next to Mimi once they reached the cafeteria, who was on the other side of the table away from Roger. She looked at him.

"He said I should cut down on the junk food. Mark, is that not calling me fat?"

Mark blinked. "Um...Um..."

"Dude. You can't possibly say I called her fat. She just eats a lot of chips. Her breath smells bad."

"ROGER DAVIS! I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!"

"_Mimiiiiiiiiiiiii_!" Roger whined.

Mark watched as Tom and Angel entered the cafeteria, Angel literally skipping to sit beside him.

"Hi, Markie!"

"Uh...Hi..." _Looks like things are settled between those two... _Mark was quite happy about that.

Maureen sighed dramatically. "Mimi and Roger are fighting again," she informed Angel and Tom.

Angel smirked. "See? What'd I tell ya, Tom?"

Tom rolled his eyes. "Yes, Angel, you know all."

"Don't I know it?"


	14. Roses Are Red

**A/N: Hope you guys like what I did with Valentine's Day as far as this sequel goes. I've been kinda obsessed with Angel and Tom in the past few chapters, so I'm giving those two a rest here. R&R please, you guys are great!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

* * *

**

_ROGER'S POV:_

Roger stared down at the little heart-shaped box of candy in his hands.

It February 14th. Oh, how he hated the day! But this Valentine's Day was going to be different for Roger. In previous years, the thought of buying a box of chocolate or picking a flower for any girl, let alone Mimi, had never crossed his mind. But now, as he stuffed the box into his backpack and headed to his car in which his mother was waiting for him, it was the one thing he was focused on.

_Does Mimi even like chocolate? Duh. Of course she likes chocolate. What kinda chick _doesn't_ like chocolate?_

Roger couldn't help questioning himself. He was a little nervous. What if she blew him off? After all, lately the two of them hadn't been on the best of terms. Roger would always say a thing or two that he hadn't meant to say, and that would turn into something bigger.

He thought all the way to school, and when his mother dropped him off, he concluded with one final thought:

_Well, she better like the chocolate, 'cause it cost me a dollar and a half...

* * *

_

_MAUREEN'S POV:_

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's Valentine's Day..." Maureen muttered. She, Joanne, and Mimi were standing around outside. None of the guys had shown up yet.

Mimi tucked her curly hair behind her ears. "Yeah, I know," she replied, "This holiday always gets me real nervous."

"Why?" Joanne blinked.

Maureen fake-gasped. "'Cause you never know if a guy's gonna get you a gift or anything. As if you didn't know, Joanne." She paused, and then grinned evilly. "I think I know the certain person you wanna get somethin' from."

"Tommmm," Mimi taunted.

"Shut up, or I'll bash your face in. And just 'cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't do it!" Joanne snapped.

Mimi laughed. "You sound like Roger...Except for the girl part."

Maureen couldn't help but wonder if Mark had gotten her anything. She remembered years ago when she'd received that pathetic little flower from him in kindergarten. Maureen smiled at the memory. She couldn't remember what had been said, but she could remember the fact that the flower was wilted and ugly. Yet she'd loved it with all her heart and even put it in a vase when she'd arrived home.

The fact that Benny was walking over to the group of girls made her break away from her thoughts.

"What do you want, Benny?" Maureen liked to act snotty with Benny. She barely knew him, but from what she'd heard, he was quite the yuppie scum. Maureen honestly didn't know what a yuppie scum was, but hey, if that was the term that was being used, Maureen would use it too.

Benny quickly handed a perfectly wrapped red rose to Mimi. "For you."

Mimi blinked. Joanne's eyes widened, and Maureen looked back and forth from Benny, to the rose, to Mimi, to Benny...

"Th...thanks, Benny..." was Mimi's reply. Benny smiled at her and ran off.

Joanne let out a little squeal. "OH MY GOD, MIMI!"

"Look at that rose, Mimi. You can _so_ tell Benny's a rich kid. I mean, look at that!" Maureen examined the rose carefully. "You're lucky."

"I don't think so..." Mimi muttered. "Roger's coming."

_MIMI'S POV:_

Mimi watched as Roger ran over to the girls. "Hey! Hi! What's up, dudes? I mean...girls...I mean...Hi."

He was so nervous. It was pathetic; him just standing there. Mimi wanted to cry.

"Hi, Roger," Maureen said in an extremely high-pitched voice that she only used when she was scared, nervous, excited, or all three. Joanne waved at him.

Roger put down his backpack and unzipped the front pocket. "Mimi, I wanted to —" He paused, and Mimi saw him glaring at the rose.

"Where...where'd you get that?" he asked.

Mimi looked at him apologetically. "Benny."

"Oh..." Roger continued unzipping his backpack and then pulled out a heart-shaped candy box. "This was for you," he said, handing it to her, "But you probably don't want it."

"Why wouldn't I want it!" Mimi replied quickly. "It's from you. That's what makes it special."

_Nice going, chica. That was cheesie._

Roger shook his head. "Yeah, whatever. Sorry I couldn't get you something like _that_." He nodded towards the rose.

Before Mimi could say anything more, Mark was running over to the group. He walked up to Maureen and handed her a chocolate box as well, looking down at the ground sheepishly all the while.

"MARKY! THANK YOU!" Maureen squealed, loud as usual. Mark blushed.

About a minute later, Angel and Tom walked into the schoolyard together, and Angel immediately ran over to Mimi and happily greeted her. He chatted about how Mrs. Collins had picked him up and how he was able to go to school with Tom. Mimi didn't know why Angel found that so amazing. She was only half-paying attention anyway.

_This is all Benny's fault...now Roger probably doesn't even wanna look at me..._

But what Roger's next reaction was surprised her.

"Hey, Mimi, is the chocolate melted? I hope not." He smiled awkwardly.

Mimi looked up at him. "Even if it is, I don't care," she replied.

"Good. Hope you like it. Happy...uh...Valentine's Day."

Mimi smiled brightly. "You too, Roger. Are you sure you're okay with..."

"Yeah. Benny's a rich kid. He can do what he wants. He can't steal you, though. Or I'll punch him. Yeah. That's what I'll do. Punch the dude."

Mimi just laughed. Roger tended to ramble on and on at times. But at this point, she found it extremely cute.

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

Mark got ready to pass a note down the row of desks to Roger. It was apparently from Angel. When notes were received from Angel, they usually involved gossip. He decided to take a quick peek at what the note said. Mark observed how very—well—_girly_ Angel's handwriting was. His cursive was very neat...not many boys in the class wrote neatly. Mark himself was known for his very sloppy handwriting.

Then he noticed a few words on the bottom of the paper in Angel's very neat handwriting:

_What do you think Mark would do if I told him Maureen was flirting with Evan all day? You're his best friend, I thought you would know._

Mark had to read the note twice to process what it said. Maureen? Flirting with Evan Phillips, the heart-throb of the fifth grade?

Mark reluctantly passed the note down and wondered why he always found things out through notes instead of face-to-face.

He felt used. The box of chocolate seemed like a waste of money.

And Maureen just seemed like a waste of time.


	15. Sweet Kisses and Laughter

**A/N: Glad everyone enjoyed the previous chapter! Here's Chapter 15!**

**WARNING: EXTREMELY CORNY CHAPTER**

**DISCLAIMER: I still own NOTHING.

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_MARK'S POV:_

"Markyyyyy, I would NEVER flirt with Evan! His brain is about the size of a pea!" Maureen Johnson screeched into Mark's ear.

He sighed heavily and replied, "You girls judge by looks anyway." He looked down at his hands. Everyone was sitting in the cafeteria at lunch time. Mark had decided to confront Maureen about the issues that had occurred on Valentine's Day two days before.

Maureen crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I did _not_ flirt with him," she persisted.

"Did too," Mark replied.

"Who says!"

Mark glanced over at Angel, who sank lower in his seat. "What're you looking at me for?" he asked innocently.

"ANGEL SCHUNARD!" Maureen cried, "You _didn't_!"

Angel shrugged. "You were flirting. With Evan. Yesterday. Tom was there..." He nudged Tom with his elbow. "Right?"

Tom sipped his juice box and replied, "Yeah, sure, whatever. All I saw was Evan talkin' to Maureen, and then she started laughin' and stuff. And, y'know, battin' her eyelashes like all you girls do."

Mark glanced over at Angel, who nodded triumphantly.

"Call me stupid, but I'd call that flirting," Roger said, munching on a potato chip.

Joanne rolled her eyes. "Roger, you _are_ stupid. Your statement is irrelevant."

"STOP TALKING LIKE A LAWYER!" Roger cried, "And since when are you stickin' up for Mo anyway?"

"I'm not, I'm just saying—"

"SHUT UUUUP!" Mimi screamed. Everyone at the table quieted down. "Okay, everyone needs to chill out. Maureen, it's obvious you were flirting, 'cause that's just..._you_. So just say you're sorry and that'll be the end of it."

Maureen stuck up her nose, "I refuse to apologize for something that I didn't do."

That, and the bell announcing the end of lunch, was all Mark needed to hear. He picked up his lunch box and walked out of the cafeteria.

_MIMI'S POV:_

"Look what you did, Maureen. You got Mark ticked off," Tom muttered, shaking his head.

"_I_ did! Why is it always me?" Maureen cried.

Angel replied, "Mark's sensitive. If I were you I'd patch things up 'cause you guys are meant to be together."

"Oh, shut up, Angel," Maureen spat, getting up and starting to walk away. The entire group followed after her.

"What's wrong with believing in destiny!" Angel asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

Maureen sighed. "Fine. You're right. Where is he?" She began running down the hallways, calling, "MARKY! MARKY, DAHLING! COME BACK!"

Mimi rolled her eyes, trying to hide the smirk twitching behind her features. Maureen was always over-the-top, but after all, she was one of her best friends.

Soon Maureen had caught up with Mark and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Maureen...Maureen...you're...choking...me..." Mark muttered. Maureen quickly pulled away and apologized frantically. Mark just laughed.

And then he made the unexpected move of kissing her on the cheek. Just a quick peck, nothing special.

Mimi let herself smile this time.

"OOOOH MY GOD!" Angel squealed, circling around the both of them and clapping his hands. Roger made kissing noises mockingly to Mark, who blushed violently. Tom had an amused smile on his face. Joanne's eyes were widened in shock.

_What the heck would I do without my friends?_ was Mimi's last thought before she ran over to give Maureen a hug.

* * *

_ANGEL'S POV:_

"...And then Mark went right up and gave Maureen a kiss on the cheek. Can ya believe it?" Angel sat at the kitchen table talking to his mother about his school day.

Mrs. Schunard laughed. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. I thought it was kinda funny, because Mark's really, really, really pale all the time, you know? And he looked like a tomato then."

The front door opened and Mr. Schunard entered, walking briskly into the kitchen.

"Hi, Dad," Angel muttered quietly.

Mr. Schunard nodded towards him and then looked him up and down. "Why do you wear your jeans so friggin' tight?"

Angel blinked. "Dad, my jeans aren't tight. Why would I wear them tight?" he asked.

"Girls wear their jeans tight. Do you know that?" Mr. Schunard barked. Angel silently stood up and wandered out of the kitchen. He could vaguely hear his parents whispering:

_...can't you just leave him alone?...just a child..._

_...He's my son, I can do what I want..._

_...let him be who he is..._

He grabbed the phone and dialed Tom's number. He waited as the phone rang for a few seconds.

"...Hi, Mr. Collins, is Tom there? Yeah, it's Angel. Thanks."

Angel felt like he would vomit if he had to wait any longer. Finally:

"Hey, Angel, what's up?" His voice made Angel breathe a sigh of relief.

"Tom, are my jeans too tight?"

A laugh on the other line. "Angel, why would I be looking?"

"I'm serious, Tom," Angel said quietly.

After a beat of silence, Tom replied with a simple question: "What's wrong, Angel?"

"My dad's being an idiot again, that's all. I was just asking," Angel muttered.

"Angel, do you think people are really looking at your jeans? I dunno why you're dad's worrying about your jeans. I mean, if they're tight, buy a new pair. I don't get it."

Angel chuckled bitterly. "I guess if you wear your jeans tight, it's girly."

"How is that?" Tom was still confused.

"Like...I guess to show off their butts or somethin', I dunno, Tom."

And that was when Tom burst out laughing. "Your...dad...worries...about...that!" he cried between fits of laughter. "Angel...aww, man, I can't breathe!" He just kept on laughing, and all the while, Angel hadn't been catching on."Oh, God, it's killing me! Angel, that is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a long time...Your dad thinks you wanna show off your butt!"  
Angel heard a loud thump on the other line, and then shuffling.

"Sorry. I just—hahaha—I just—heh—dropped the phone..."

Then Angel started laughing. Soon the both of them were laughing to the point of tears, any troubling thoughts washed away from the laughter and happiness of the two best friends.


	16. Mark's 'Forgotten' Birthday

**A/N: Thanks for all your reviews, guys :) ****I'd like to address the whole "Why-did-you-make-Collins-so-stupid" issue that has come up a few times in reviews. Don't worry, I'm not pinpointing anyone at all, I'm just addressing it to you reviewers as a whole. I honestly didn't think of it as _stupid_. When I was their age, I was very naive and on the borderline of innocence/ignorance and reality...if you know what I mean. That's the state-of-mind I was putting the character of Tom in at that particular moment. Hope that clears things up for you guys.****This chapter's kinda short; I have a lot of things going on...sorry!

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_MARK'S POV:_

Mark slowly opened his eyes, only to close them again due to the bright sunlight streaming through his bedroom window. Today marked quite a special day. March 1st.

He was officially eleven years old.

"Marky! Sweetie!"

_Oh, no. Mom. _Mark opened his eyes once again and saw a blurry figure hovering over him. Mark fumbled for his glasses on his beside table and put them on. His mother's happy face slowly came into view. "Happy Birthday, Mark! Oh, it seems like just yesterday I was cradling you in my arms when you were just a little baby! Now look at you! You're _eleven_!"

Mrs. Cohen's voice squeaked at the word 'eleven' and made Mark flinch.

"Thanks, Mom," he muttered, sluggishly getting out of bed to get changed for school.

* * *

_ROGER'S POV:_

"Okay, here's the plan," Tom leaned in and whispered to his friends. Roger, munching on a granola bar because he hadn't had any breakfast, leaned in as well. Everyone was going to surprise Mark on his birthday.

"...We're gonna pretend we forgot that it's his birthday. Even you, Maureen," Tom continued, glancing over at Maureen, who was jumping up and down excitedly.

Roger personally couldn't wait to see the stupid, confused look on Mark's face when they pretended not to know about his birthday. He told his friends just that.

"Well, Rog, you're the only one who makes stupid, confused faces, so I think it's the other way around," Mimi joked.

Roger rolled his eyes. "I do not make stupid faces."

"What's 45 times 52?" Angel asked. Roger stood there with his hands in his pockets, with—yup, you guessed it—a stupid, confused look on his face.

Joanne shook her head. "I think we proved our point, Roger. If I had a mirror, I could show you that stupid look on your face!"

"SHUT UP!"

Tom cried, "Guys, focus. Does everybody have their gifts for Mark?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, then, we're all set. We just have to wait for him to show up."

And sure, enough, Mark came trudging into the schoolyard, yawning loudly and lifting up his glasses to rub his eyes.

_Perfect_, Roger thought, _The dude's out-of-it already and we haven't even said anything to him yet! This is gonna be awesome!

* * *

_

_JOANNE'S POV:_

Mark was walking towards them and Joanne had to stifle a laugh. This should be quite interesting.

"Hey, guys," Mark said, smiling. Everyone muttered various "Hi"s and "What's up?"s in reply.

After a long moment of silence, Mark said, "Guess what today is?"

Maureen shrugged. "It's March 1st. So?" Joanne had to stifle another laugh. Maureen was a great actress when it came to things like this.

Mark blinked. "...You guys don't know?"

"Are we supposed to?" asked Angel. He cocked his head to the side in a state of mock-confusion. _Nice one, Angie_, Joanne thought.

"Nevermind," Mark said sadly, walking over to the fifth grade line as the school bell rang.

Mimi let out a little squeal. "Oh my God, that's pathetic. Poor Marky..."

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

It was lunchtime, and none of Mark's friends had even mentioned his birthday. His name was even on the "Birthday Board" in the classroom. Mark was feeling slightly rejected and decided that he'd go sit with April or Benny at lunch instead of his usual corner at his friends' table.

But before he could make his move, Maureen tugged on his arm and brought him back over to their table. Mark noticed that they all were carrying plastic bags with their lunches. He found this quite peculiar. He supposed it was another thing they'd forgotten to tell him besides the words "Happy Birthday".

"Where the heck were you going?" asked Tom, "Tell me you weren't gonna sit with the Anti-social April or Bragger Benny!" 'Bragger Benny' was the nickname they used to refer to Benny. Mark usually found it amusing, but now, he didn't really want to talk to anybody. He just shrugged in reply to Tom's question.

Roger turned towards Mark, eating a chocolate chip cookie. "Dude, why are you so, like, quiet today? I mean, you're always quiet, but now you're _reallyyyyy_ quiet."

"Thanks for that analysis, Roger," Tom muttered, rolling his eyes.

Angel blinked. "What's an analysis?"

"Nevermind, Angel."

Then the entire group burst into meaningless chatter, and Mark sat and watched, picking at his food and little piece of birthday cake his mother had packed him. He never usually liked to feel sorry for himself, but in this case, when his best friends had forgotten about his very own _birthday_...it just made him downright _depressed_.

"Hey, Mark," Mimi said, tapping him on the arm. Mark turned to face his so-called friend solemnly. Her eyes were bright with excitement, as usual.

_At least somebody's happy..._ Mark thought bitterly.

"Do you like comic books?" she asked. Mark blinked. Everyone knew he liked comic books. He read them in all the spare time he could get.

"Yeah, duh," he muttered.

"Oh, good, 'cause that's the gift I got you. A comic book."

Mark looked up from his food. "..Huh?"

Mimi giggled. "You're starting to sound like Roger."

"HEY!" Roger shouted from the far end of the table. Mark was still confused. Gift? When had gifts been mentioned?

"Happy Birthday, Marky!" Angel shouted, clapping his hands excitedly. Mark blinked. What was going on?

"Dude, we so tricked you!" Roger exclaimed, "Did you actually believe that none of us would remember that you're turnin' eleven today?"

"Yeah, Angel marks all our birthdays on his calendar; it would be impossible for him to forget," Joanne remarked.

Tom handed him his plastic bag. "Don't worry, the gifts are wrapped. We ain't _that_ lazy. We had to hide 'em, and Roger came up with the idea of hiding them in plastic bags...kind of a stupid idea, huh?"

Mark's eyes widened behind his thick glasses. "Guys...you really didn't have to..."

"Oh, please, Marky. You were so depressed; you _know _you wanted gifts from us!"

They all burst into a round of "Happy Birthday" and clapped their hands. Mark listened and smiled so much that he thought his face would fall off. Of course, Roger was singing off-key, but that didn't matter.

"Thanks so much, everyone...this is awesome..." Mark said, staring at all his gifts in awe. He didn't know why he even thought of doubting his friends. He knew he could always count on them.


	17. Gummy Worms

**A/N: Addressing another issue: Roger has not discovered his voice talents yet. Don't panic, folks.**

**Sorry I haven't updated. School has kept me busy. Enjoy this chapter. Some Angel/Collins!kiddie goodness here.

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_JOANNE'S POV:_

Joanne hated the rain.

She remembered that she and her friends had created a theory long ago that when it rained, it meant the angels in heaven were crying. Joanne was almost eleven years old. Yet, she somehow still held that belief close to her. At least it covered up the reality of the situation—it was one cruddy day.

_This is _not_ how I wanted to spend my weekend_, she thought, flipping through a magazine as she lay sprawled out on her bed. There was nothing to do, and the weatherman had reported that the following day, Sunday, would be rainy as well. It didn't look like Joanne would be able to play basketball in her driveway that weekend.

She still had to finish a Science project and walk the dog, and take out the garbage...

And Joanne didn't feel like doing any of these things, all because of the April rain.

* * *

_TOM'S POV_:

Tom picked up the telephone and sighed. "Hello?"

"You sound bored, too."

Tom blinked. "...Joanne! Hi. What's up?" he said, his spirits lifting now that he'd gotten a call from one of his friends.

"You...wanna come over? I'm really bored," Joanne said quietly. Tom could tell she was nervous. Since he'd semi-rejected her when she had told him that she liked him, they had both been a little on-edge when talking to each other alone.

"I actually wanted to invite _you_ over here...I'm having Angel and everyone else over 'cause they're all bored, too. My mom made cookies and stuff. Can you come?" Tom asked eagerly. He hoped Joanne could make it. It was never as fun for the group of friends to hang out when one of them was missing.

"Um...sure!"

"Cool! See ya then." Tom hung up the phone and got some snacks ready on the kitchen table. "Tom," Mr. Collins called from the living room as he read the newspaper, "Make sure your friends don't make a mess of our kitchen, you hear?"

Tom nodded and yelled back, "Sure thing, dad..."

He hoped Roger wouldn't stuff his face_ too_ much.

* * *

_ANGEL'S POV:_

Angel hopped out of his mother's car, blue umbrella in hand, and ran over to Tom's front door where he was waiting on the steps.

"Hi, Angel! You're here first. Which means you get the gummy worms before Roger does."

Angel laughed. Gummy worms were Tom's favorite snack and he always brought them to school and shared them with his friends. "I call the red ones!"

"As if. I like the red ones. I wanna eat 'em," Tom taunted, a hint of a smile gracing his lips.

"Tom, the red ones are owned by me. I will _not_ eat any other flavor." Angel mock-huffed as he walked into the house.

Tom shrugged. "Well I guess you'll have to_ watch_ me eat the red gummy worms because they're mine."

"Not on my life, Thomas Collins!"

"Don't say my full name. You sound like my mom." Tom rolled his eyes, ran into the kitchen and grabbed the package of gummy worms from the kitchen table. He returned in front of Angel, who still had his raincoat on standing in front of the doorway. "Ooh, look what I have!"

"Give 'em, Tom."

"_Not on my life_, Angel Schunard," Tom mocked, smiling wickedly.

"YOU IDIOT!" Angel tackled Tom to the ground and they both started fighting over the package of gummy worms.

"Angel! You're getting me all wet with your stupid jacket," Tom managed to cry out between fits of laughter.

"Gimme the gummy worms and no one gets hurt!"

Suddenly there was the sound of a door opening and shutting. Angel was pretty much on top of Tom trying to grab the package, but once they heard the sound, they both froze.

Glancing towards the door, they saw the rest of their friends looking down at them. Roger was shaking his head. Mark stared. Joanne was giggling. Mimi rolled her eyes, and Maureen was darting her eyes back and forth.

"Are we..." Mark took a couple of steps forward, taking off his jacket, "...missing somethin'?"

There was a long, awkward silence, until it was broken by Maureen's delayed observation:

"Look! Gummy worms!"

* * *

_MIMI'S POV:_

After the gummy worms had been divided equally amongst the seven friends (Angel getting most of the red ones), they all sat on the couch and watched a TV movie, eating Mrs. Collins' cookies.

"Gah, these movies are so corny," Roger muttered. Mimi just swatted his arm and said, "You're corny."

"I think you're corny-er." Roger snapped.

"Is that even a word?" Mimi challenged. Roger was silent, and Mimi smirked triumphantly, grabbing onto Roger's arm.

A rainy day had never been so fun-filled.


	18. Everything's Coming Up Roses

**A/N: Hey, guys! Last chapter was also cheesie and kinda short, I know. I promise this one is better. Next chapter will be the final one, I'm sorry to say...but enjoy this one nevertheless!

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_MARK'S POV:_

Mark was very relieved as he stepped into the warm May air. It was finally getting warmer again—and it wasn't raining. It had rained almost all April...and when it hadn't been raining, Mark thought bitterly, it had been horribly cold outside.

He was in a very happy mood, and not just because of the weather. His grades for the year were above average. This would be the one time he'd be excited to get his report card for the end of the year. Issues at home weren't bad either; Cindy actually stopped calling him a twerp for one full day...And, of course, life at school couldn't have been better. He and Maureen weren't picking on each other as much. Tom and Joanne were on great terms, as were Mimi and Roger. And Angel was happy for everybody and with everybody, as he usually was.

So, as he entered the schoolyard on a normally dreary Monday morning, Mark was happy. And he hoped he would be happy for the rest of the day. He walked over to his friends with a smile on his face to find that everyone else was frowning.

"Hi, guys," he said. Everyone was silent, crowded around Maureen. Mark didn't find that shocking. People were _always_ crowded around Maureen.

"What's up?" Mark attempted to strike up a conversation once again. Angel looked up at him, his brown eyes full of sadness. "...What happened?" Angel grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side.

"Maureen's grandma. Y'know, the one that always makes cookies that Maureen brings to lunch?"

Mark nodded. Maureen had shared some of her grandmother's cookies with him at one point, and they were good.

"She...died. On Saturday. And Mo's really sad." Angel glanced over at Maureen, who was curled up sitting on the concrete.

Mark stared. "Aww, man..." was all he could say. "I feel...really bad...Is...she..."

"Just go talk to her," Angel said. Mark nodded once again and walked back over to his friends huddled around Maureen. He literally had to shove Roger out of the way to get to her.

"Dude, where's the fire?! Gosh."

Mark ignored his best friend and ran over to Maureen and knelt down beside her. "Maureen...hi." He briefly acknowledged his friends dispersing as to leave the two of them alone. "I'm...really, really, _really_ sorry about your grandma."

Maureen sniffed. Mark was afraid she wouldn't talk to him. He always found himself stuck in these awkward situations.

Finally, she spoke. "Marky, I miss her a lot."

"Yeah...yeah, I know. If you wanna...talk, you can just talk to me 'cause...uh..." He paused, gulping. "...'Cause I don't want you to be sad. When you're sad, I'm sad." _Mark, that was so corny. You should just shut up. Right now._

Maureen looked up at him in such a way that made Mark's heart skip a beat.

"Thanks, Mark." She'd called him _Mark_. Not Marky. Just Mark. And then she stood up and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder. Mark was startled at first, but then stiffly put his arms around her as well.

Were hugs with girls supposed to be like this? Mark felt as if he'd faint. Maureen was always loud, hyper, and desperate for constant attention. Now, there she stood, crying in front of quiet, shy Mark Cohen.

She broke away from him and said quietly, "Sorry, I think I got your shirt wet and stuff."

Mark glanced down at his shoulder, covered in wet tears. "No, you didn't."

* * *

_ROGER'S POV:_

"Angel, what the heck is that on your lips?" Roger cried loudly.

Everyone at the lunch table had been discussing something or other and had stopped and turned towards Angel. His lips were an unusual shade of pink.

"It's lipstick," Angel said nonchalantly. The group went silent.

"...Lipstick?" Joanne finally questioned.

"Uh-huh. I just put it on here so that Mrs. Wright wouldn't catch me in class."

Roger just blinked. "Girls wear lipstick, dude. Hate to burst your bubble."

Angel just turned to him and replied, "Oh, I know girls wear it. What's your point?"

Tom, who was sitting beside him, stared with wide eyes. "Angel...where'd you get that stuff?"

"My mom's dresser."

Roger blinked. Angel had always been...feminine. But he'd never worn lipstick before.

No one knew what to say. Maureen had been silent all day, yet she was the one to say:

"Angel, you look awesome."

Once she'd made the comment, everyone started shouting words of encouragement.

"You should try a different color tomorrow!"

"Matches your complexion. Totally."

"Can I borrow that?"

Mimi nudged Roger's elbow, signaling for him to say something. He sighed, and thought for a moment on what to say:

"It's sooooo shiny. Seriously, dude. Seriously."

* * *

Angel came into school with bruises on his arms the next day. Roger wasn't left out of the loop that time. For once, he knew why.

"I forgot to take the lipstick off when I got home..."

That was all anyone needed to hear. Roger glanced over at Mark.

He wasn't smiling like yesterday.

Roger could only hope the school year wouldn't end like this. June was approaching.


	19. Push For Forever Final Chapter

**A/N: A big thank-you to all of the reviewers. I don't think I'll be doing a middle school fic after this; once you read the ending of this final chapter you may understand why it could be kinda complicated. Thanks again! Much love -Jenna

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_MIMI'S POV:_

June 15th. The last day of fifth grade. Mimi couldn't believe it. She would be in middle school once the summer ended. And the thing that upset her most was the fact that she and her friends wouldn't all be going to the same middle schools. What would she do without Roger and the rest of her friends she'd known for six years? Mimi knew that she and Angel would be attending the same middle school next year...at least she still had him.

She gulped as she carried her unusually lightweight backpack on her shoulders and entered the classroom, Roger walking behind her with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He himself looked very uneasy.

"So, Mark, Tom, Maureen, and I are all going to the same middle school," he muttered to her as they walked to their seats. "The rest of us are split, right?"

Mimi just nodded. "Me and Angel are gonna stick together 'cause my mom and his mom are like peanut butter and jelly...and Joanne's all by herself."

"Dude, seriously?"

"Seriously. I think she's moving to Rhode Island or something so that when she grows up she can go to one of those smart colleges. She didn't wanna talk about it much."

She looked Roger in the eye. "We'll hang out over the summer, though. We can hang out on weekends, too."

Roger just looked down at his shoes. "Yeah. Sure."

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

Lunchtime brought many a conversation amongst the seven friends.

"Dude, my older brother told me that at Perri Middle School, there's this wacky old teacher that you have for Social Studies that makes you do 100 push-ups if you don't have your homework ready in class," Roger said.

Mark straightened his glasses and shuddered, imagining himself as a 6th grader doing push-ups in front of a cackling, white-haired old lady. His future at Perri Middle School seemed dim, mainly because he'd be separated from some of his closest friends: Joanne, Mimi, and Angel. Of course, he was happy that he would still be with Roger, Tom, and Maureen, but he knew it wouldn't be the same.

Mark looked up and down the table at each of his friends. Roger was, of course, stuffing his face and talking at the same time, sending half of the contents of his lunch flying everywhere as he spoke whatever nonsense he felt needed to be said while eating. Mimi was smiling, examining her perfectly painted nails, her face lit up like a lantern. Maureen was laughing loudly (this didn't surprise Mark at all; sometimes he could hear her laugh from across the schoolyard) and flinging an arm around his shoulders. He glanced over to the other side where Angel was breaking a cookie in half and handing the other half to Tom, who happily accepted it. Joanne, sitting at the very end of the table, looked as if she might cry. Mark couldn't blame her. After all, she was moving to a completely different state and had to make new friends and start a new life. But once Angel leaned over and said something or other, a smile spread across Joanne's face. Leave it to Angel to make anyone smile.

Mark dreaded the end of the day. But unfortunately, it came.

* * *

"Maureen...We're both going to the same school next year...Ow." Mark tried to pull away from a hysterical Maureen who had pulled him into a tight hug. 

Maureen sniffed and pulled away. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."

Mark felt sick. He glanced over at Roger, who was now hugging Mimi. Roger never hugged anyone. But the sad expression on his face that he rarely displayed told Mark that this hug was genuine.

Joanne was hugging everybody, bawling her eyes out. Mark tapped her on the shoulder and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.

"We'll keep in touch, okay? When do you leave New York?" he inquired.

Joanne sniffed. "A couple of weeks." This prompted her to hug him again. "Mark, you were always such a nerd, but I love ya anyway."

Mark laughed shakily, trying not to cry himself. Joanne squeezed his arm before moving on to someone else to hug. That was when Angel ran up to Mark and flung his arms around him.

"Marky, you'd better call this summer and not be an idiot like you were last summer, okay?!" he reprimanded.

Mark smiled. "Don't worry, Angel, I will. And make sure Mimi doesn't act too crazy over the summer."

"Got it," Angel said with tears in his eyes. Mark watched as he wandered over to Tom and simply looked at him. Mark had a feeling Angel's goodbye to Tom would be the hardest for both of them. He shook his head as he ran over to Mimi to give her a hug as well.

* * *

_TOM'S POV:_

"Angel, come on, man, don't get mushy on me," Tom said quietly, putting a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Bu-bu-but...We've been friends for...s-s-so long and I...I..." Angel stuttered, tears rolling down his caramel skin.

"Angel, we're still gonna see each other over the summer...and...we can call each other. And we'll hang out on weekends with the rest of 'em. That stuff isn't gonna change."

"I'm g-g-gonna m-m-miss you."

Those four words caused a lump to form in Tom's throat. _Crap. Crud, crud, crap._

The only thing he could do was let Angel hug him and say, "I'll miss you too, Angel. I'll miss you, too."

* * *

_MARK'S POV:_

After a good long time of everyone hugging and crying, the friends were forced to disperse.

"Joanne, you are going to call me or I am going to kill you," Maureen said flatly as she grabbed her backpack. "Love you guys, talk to ya later!"

Mark was yet again amazed at how Maureen could go from crying to sarcastic death-threats.

Angel was looking down at the ground, fidgeting with his fingers. Tom put an arm around his shoulders once again, and Mark heard him say, "I'll walk with ya outside, okay?"

Mimi was clutching onto Roger, who waved to Mark. "Oh yeah, my mom wants some recipe or something from your mom so I think I'm coming over your house for a little bit tomorrow, okay?"

Mark nodded. "See you then." Mimi pulled away from Roger for a brief moment to hug him. "Love ya. I'll call you and harass you soon, okay?" she said with a smirk. Mark laughed and waved goodbye to both of them.

Joanne pulled him into a hug once more. "Bye, Marky."

"Bye," Mark choked.

It was then he realized that he was the only one left in the classroom.

_I'm really gonna miss them..._ Mark thought, trying to shake away the sickening feeling of nostalgia coming over him.

He remembered, just faintly, when he'd been in kindergarten and fallen on his knee in the hallway. Who had come to help him and told him to stop crying like a baby? Roger, of course. Who had been his very first "Valentine"? Maureen. And how could he forget quizzical, curious Mimi, always asking "What's this?" or "What does that mean?" Then there was sporty, smart Joanne, who thought that boys were meanies and that being a doctor would be her life-long dream. And Angel, the feminine 5-year-old boy who wore his sister's nail polish and always made everyone smile. Tom had been the know-it-all who always found it necessary to correct everyone.

Six years with the six people who meant the world to him. It was all too much. There were tears rolling down his cheeks at this point. He hadn't even realized it. Just as he was wiping the tears away, Maureen poked her head into the room.

"Marky, what the heck are you still doing in here? My mom's picking both of us up today, remember?"

Mark quickly finished wiping away the tears and replied, "Oh, yeah. Okay, I'll be there in a second."

Maureen nodded and mock-flirtatiously blew him a kiss before skipping away. He sighed and picked up his backpack.

The final item he had packed earlier was the notebook he'd used at the beginning of the year: _What NOT to do in 5th Grade_.

Mark smiled at the memory. He was in middle school now. He was growing up. And so were Roger, Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, Tom and Angel. But he had a strong feeling that they'd remain close for a very, very long time. Mark hoped they could even push for forever. After all, as Tom would always say, "Well, you never know!"

After one more glance at the classroom, Mark Cohen was out the door. _6th grade, here I come._


End file.
